Rose on a Grave
by Kingofclubs8129
Summary: Nineteen year old Thomas gets lost. But sometimes you need to get lost to get found again.
1. A light on the dark side of me

I was lost. I'd woken up at a girls house (which wasn't really new for me) and decided to walk home. Realistically being out alone three in the morning posed no threat to me and I needed to clear my head. I was hungry, of course. I'm always hungry. Alice and her sister…I wanted to say Amanda, had been enthusiastic but that last bite is always the one you need to quench the hunger and monster or not I'd never take it again.

I still remember poor little Shelby, who had been my first time. We'de been on a few dates, and I had really liked her. She was a virgin too, and we'de decided to take that next step together. My sister told me afterwards not to feel bad. She says the first time is always fatal, that there was nothing I could do. Lara sometimes really misses the point.

I'd been drowning myself in women since then, but like my demon, my heart remained empty, unsatisfied. I thought walking might clear my mind, as the girls had not, but soon found myself on unfamiliar streets. I wasn't too worried about being lost, after all I was an apex predator, and its not like I needed food or water. I'd just fed fairly deeply and would be fine until I found a way home.

I was lost in my own thoughts when I came across the odd little store. I'd been wandering for hours, and figured the purveyor could at least tell me where I was and give me a direction to head. Apparently it had started raining sometime along the way, and my soggy hair clung to my face, I hadn't even noticed the water in my reverie, and my growing awareness of being caught out in wet jeans was being given a decidedly darker tone by my rather unfortunate decision to forgo underwear today.

The old man at the counter of the shop barely registered my presence when I came in, his head was drooping low in a lazy drift that seemed to be sleep but wasn't. I was pretty surprised, the man had an unusually strong life force, exponentially stronger than any human I'd met till then. I'd have assumed he was from the spooky side of things but my instincts weren't pinging another predator. Curious.

I rapped on the counter with my knuckles. The old mans head jerked up as if in surprise, but his heartbeat stayed steady, this man wasn't nearly as doddering as he was playing, but I was hardly in a position to throw stones about books and covers. "Excuse me sir, I was wondering exactly where I am? I went out for a walk and seem to have gotten lost. Do you know how to get to Michigan Avenue from here?" The man furrowed the brow over eyes he still hadn't opened and cocked his head.

"Never heard of a street like that young man, how long exactly have you been walking?" I searched my mind. I wasn't actually sure. I knew it had been three in the morning when I'd crawled out of the tangle of limbs at the ladies house, but I wasn't sure how long I'd been walking. If I looked I could see some sun peeking through the clouds roiling over the city. Come to think of it I could see shapes moving in the sky, dark shadows surfacing briefly before disappearing back into the storm, like silent sharks moving in the deep recesses of a rolling black sea.

I glanced around me now, looking more closely at things in the shop. What looked like pneumatic tubes of what appeared to be colored sand lined the walls. The case upon which the old mans hands rested was full of brightly colored stones, the depths of which seemed to dance with an inner fire. I looked hurriedly up from the stones, they were alive somehow and I got the feeling gazing into their depths to try to find the source of that life would be a rabbit hole I'd rather avoid. "Where exactly is this shop located? If you don't mind me asking?"

I was getting a pretty distinct not-in-kansas vibe. I cursed myself for being too distracted to observe my surroundings. I should've known better than to wander around without watching where I was going. Wizards and the like could open ways between the mortal world and spirit world but that wasn't the only way to cross. Long before mortal magic had discovered how to open ways there had been paths to the nevernever, secret ways and roads that would lead across the veil if walked the right way.

I had thought they were all closed and had never heard of anyone wandering through them since the days of old, when mortals found themselves in the courts of the fae with no way home, and were trapped there forever. These days of cold iron and science had destroyed the paths as far as I knew, I couldn't have been expected to anticipate this crazy random happenstance, but with how my luck has been over the last few months I should have just assumed murphys law was in effect at all times.

My suspicions were confirmed when the old man raised his weathered gray brow in surprise "Why, this is the city of Vale, you must be here for the Vytal festival? Its quite the sight, men and women from all over remnant, dozens of cultures and walks of life all represented. Not to mention the tournament, broadcast worldwide for all to see. You seem a strong young man to me? Are you here for the tournament?"

This was…not good. I had been pretty sure that I wasn't in any of the lands of faerie, being as I didn't know of any actual societies with independent cities in under hill. But if this man was citing a collective culture made up of a large scale series of kingdoms, all insular and independent I could say for certain wasn't in fae territory. I'd have heard of a nation of fae this big, everyone would've. Even if this had been their only city it was huge, we're talking Chicago sized, that's millions of fae, and my fathers last estimate of Mabs troop count was a tenth of that.

Which meant this wasn't faerie, which touched on the mortal world, this was…deeper. In high school I was pretty introverted (after the tenth or eleventh friend who ended up bailing on me to fuck one of my sisters I kind of stopped bringing them over) so I'd done a lot of reading. I'd come across a book once in one of our libraries that mentioned the hiding lands, the deep realms in the heart of the nevernever that had been lost over the centuries.

If that's where I was this was bad, my people can cross into the real world from the nevernever at places where out power is great, allowing us to pierce the thinning veil to the spirit world. Unfortunately the hiding lands weren't even remotely reality adjacent, I could be standing on a dick shaped skyscraper made of pure magic while enchanted strippers rained from the sky and it wouldn't be enough sex or power to get me home from here. I thanked the old man and wandered out into the rapidly clearing day.

I spent the next hour or two walking in circles, occasionally stopping to stare up at the actually FLOATING COLLISEUM in the sky, and all the AIR SHIPS! Seriously the tech here was nuts, back home my family always had top of the line toys but the flat paper thin things people seemed to use to communicate here (ironically they called them scrolls) were decades if not centuries ahead of the sleek Razr cell phone I'd gotten from Lara for my nineteenth birthday two months before. After confirming that paths to and from the the deepest hidden pockets of the universe were in fact not listed on this worlds version of mapquest, I did the only thing I could do. I went and got myself a drink.

Being me I, of course, didn't pay for my drinks, adoring women and even a couple men started sending me over cocktails the minute I sat down at the bar. Encouragingly enough, though the names and bases weren't the same, cocktails are apparently universal, because they all came in the same familiar glasses and with the same flavors (give or take an aftertaste) I was used to. A pina colada, a strawberry daquari, some beer (which wasn't bad, but theres this little pub in Chicago I go to that makes it way better) I tried basically every drink on the menu, and after an hour or two I was a few bed bath and beyond worth of sheets to the wind.

After pounding my fifteenth shot of Devils Whisper (which tasted a lot like jaegermeister) I noticed the guy next to me had stopped drinking and was watching me imbibe with amusement. "Damn kid, how in the hell are you not dead? I've been pickling my liver for twenty years and just watching you drink is giving me a sympathy hangover, I respect the hell out of your fortitude but where exactly is the fire?" His wine red eyes were sympathetic, despite his gruff tone, and his five o'clock shadow and messy black hair gave the impression that he'de be a great drinking buddy to tell my whale of toe…tale of whoa? Tail of woe.

I slammed my head down on the bar, which luckily didn't hurt even a little for some reason, and groaned. "I wanna go home! I'm not from here and I don't know how I got here, but now I don't have a way home, and I cant even tell you what happened because you'de never believe a word of it. Not to mention being drunk dehydrating me which is making me hungry so now I want to fuck one of these girls, but even sex vampire superpowers cant overcome whisky dick this bad."

My new best friend seemed amused and then interested when I mentioned superpowers, and he made a sympathetic noise. "Ouch, sounds like a mess, getting lost in a strange town sucks, and considering the number of womens underwear that appears to have been shoved into your pockets I'd say that whisky dick is indeed your bane right now. Serious hardcore drunks like me don't even get whisky dick anymore, I could drink this WHOLE BAR AND GET LAID!" This last was roared in challenge as he leapt up on the bar raising his fist to the sky before the bartender hooked his ankle and toppled him onto the floor.

I dove after my new friend to save him "Oh no! Guy! Are you ok? It cant end like this, not after all weve been through! Don't go toward the light! Remember all the good times!" After that it was all a blur of grab ass and girls and drinking songs. My new buddy, whose name was Qrow ( I was informed that "the Q is silent ass-breath") was a regular here when he was in town, and usually didn't get nearly this wasted, but was gallantly stopping me from killing myself via alcohol poisoning by shouldering half of my massive burden.

We were apparently the life of the party, and after about four hours of intense day drinking and Qrow teaching me the words to "The Huntress and the Knight" (which is bar none literally the crudest most graphic song I've ever heard in my life, and I grew up in a family of porn star sex vampires) several lap dances, and a wet t-shirt contest (which apparently I invented here) we stumbled off back to Qrows place, where he was staying with his brother in law and I proceeded to pass out only to wake up where I am now, with literally the worst hangover I've ever had in my life.

Which is how I currently found myself in a strange house, wearing what appeared to be a red hood and cape several sizes too small for me and no shirt, trying desperately not to vomit while I made eggs on Qrows weird magic crystal sand stove, and desperately wishing that I had listened to the nice bartender and quit after that third pitcher of this worlds weird combustible version of sangria. My buddy was asleep on the couch, snoring like a buzz saw and his brother in law was sitting at the table waiting for an omelet glaring daggers at me while his dark haired daughter chattered nervously while sneaking what she probably thought were covert glances at my ass and the busty blonde one eyed me like a steak she wanted to eat.

After I finished the eggs I sat down at the table, careful to keep Taiyang (according to Qrow) between me and the blonde one, Yang (who was polite enough to introduce herself before she started drooling) which put me right next to Ruby, who was absolutely adorable in a sweet little puppy kind of way. The nervous little brunette seemed to stumble a bit as I sat down and passed out the eggs but quickly got over it and changed her chatter to actual questions "So…Thomas, its so nice to see uncle Qrow is making new friends, I never see him spending time with anyone and you seem really" queue the blush "nice".

Taiyang gave me a tight smile "So where exactly are you from Thomas, and how long are you going to be in town? As nice as having Qrow here is and as happy as I am to help his friends, I'm afraid we cant really afford to have you stay here again, since this is just a rental while we're in town for the festival. Landlord problems you know."

Yang looked like she'd been diagnosed with cancer of the puppy and I was suddenly so very glad that I hadn't had to go to sleep here while she'd known I was in the house. Because of all the dehydration from the booze my body was consuming massive amounts of energy, not to mention running around town looking for the path yesterday, so I was HUNGRY. The poor outgoing blonde seemed to be taking the hit harder than her shy sister, and if I didn't get out of here and find a girl to feed on soon I was actually scared she'd come at me over the table.

Seeing as Qrow was literally the only friend I had here and despite some vague memories of him using my abs as a dartboard to score phone numbers, had treated me with nothing but respect, I sure as hell wouldn't be taking advantage of his nieces like that. Not to mention Taiyang looked like he was about to put his steak knife through my eye as it was. I didn't need enemies here already.

I decided to try to relieve some of the tension with surprise, so I answered his question truthfully "Honestly you probably wont believe me but im not from remnant at all. I'm from a city called Chicago on a planet called earth. I wound up here yesterday with no clue how and now I don't know how to get back. Honestly I have nowhere to go and no one to ask for help, if Qrow hadn't stumbled on me drowning my sorrows and been nice enough to have me over I'd have had to sleep on the street" That was actually a complete lie, I could've gotten a place to stay from some girl, but despite what I'd said about whiskey dick I honestly just didn't feed drunk, its hard enough not to kill my partner when im sober.

Taiyangs face had softened a bit, though he looked skeptical, and Yang seemed to have been snapped out of the effects of my hunger by the sadness in my voice. Not a lot of women get past thoughts of sex when I'm hungry, the sympathetic looks or hers and Rubys faces made me like them both. They were clearly strong willed girls to be able to push aside their desires and empathize with my situation.

There was a grinding behind me and I realized the snoring had stopped, Qrow pulled a chair up and sat on it backwards, stealing food off of mine and Rubys plates with unbelievably quick fingers. "So Tommy boy, youre lost and you cant get home. The way you said that, and some of the weird stuff you spouted last night make me think your Chicago might not be of this world. So assuming youre not bat shit crazy, you mustve got here by magic. You a magician, kid?"

He said that lightly, like he was just joking, but I could tell from his sharp eyes he was interested in the answer. Qrow was curious about magic. He believed it was real and he wanted to find some. "Sadly no. I'm…its hard to explain. I feed on life force." They all leaned back a bit and I gave my best reassuring smile "Don't worry, you've all been very kind to me, and I would never feed on someone without permission. You're safe." I looked at Qrow "So what made you believe im from another world? Most people would assume I was just crazy."

The older man grinned at me "Jurys still out on that one Tommy, as for the other world thing? Little stuff, besides the fact that you said as much while we were drinking, for one you kept getting really surprised about all the smallest things. How scrolls work, the air ships, that kind of stuff. Stuff no one from this world, regardless of how small a village theyre from, bats an eye at. But mostly its your aura. I've been around a lot of people, none of them had an aura that feels like yours. Sort of cold and empty. Part of why I got you drunk last night, you seemed dangerous, I wanted to see what youde do if you were too wasted to control yourself."

My eyes widened at that. Now that I thought about it Qrow didn't seem nearly as hungover as I did, which shouldn't have been possible seeing as he was human. I got the feeling he'd been playing drunker than he was to get me to let down my guard. "And what if I'd failed your test? Would you have used that big ass sword on me?" Now I was angry. Not just at Qrow but at myself. I'd been so depressed I'd let myself get stupid, I'd been way too trusting of strangers, and in this world I didn't even know if my Hunger would be able to protect me, I had to shape the hell up or I was gonna get myself killed before Friday.

Qrows eyes somehow both softened and hardened at once "If youd hurt anyone I would've considered you a monster. Huntsmen kill monsters. But even at your drunkest you didn't harm any innocents, as far as I'm concerned youre just a weird kid who got lost. That said, I wasn't faking having fun last night, youre a hell of a drinking buddy, and a good guy. I have a friend here who has some experience with magic, I'll take you to see him after breakfast, maybe he can help you get home."

Ruby looked excited "Uncle Qrow, you know someone who knows how to do magic?! That's so cool! Do you think he'd teach me? I want to learn!" The little brunette was bouncing like an eager puppy and I couldn't help but smile. Even Taiyang was laughing at his youngest and Yang just rolled her eyes.

Qrow cut his neice off "Sorry kid, I said I know someone who knows ABOUT magic. He doesn't know how to do it. Nobody does anymore." Which was interesting, considering where I was pretty sure we were, youde have thought people here would piss magic. "In any case that means we're heading up to beacon with you girls, I'm sure Oz will be able to make time for us."

I grinned at my friend and held out a fist which he bumped. "Well then. Looks like we're off to see the wizard."

 **A/N Ok folks new story. I'm really into Rwby and I have a ton of great ideas for this story later on down the line. That being said please review if you like this, as reviews feed me and give me sustenance. I repeat. I need reviews. They help me breathe, they give me inner strength. Clearly this is a Thomas story. I have definite plans for where to go but please if you have any ideas feel free to leave them and ill take them into consideration.**


	2. My eyes become large

The ride to beacon was…a bit disorienting. After we left casa de xiao-long it didn't take more than a minute to get to what appeared to be, no joke here, an air ship station. I was looking around in awe at the technology and machinery around us, I had seen things moving the morning before but the storm had covered how truly awe inspiring the vessels were. I couldn't help but feel a sense of peace roll over me as I looked out into the open sky off the docks.

I'd never had a problem with heights, being a vampire I could handle a fall from most heights but even when I was too high to have a hope of surviving there was something…pure about the sky. My new friends were chattering as we approached the ticket counter, mostly Ruby and Yang, Qrow seemed to be watching the girls with a sense of pride and a little awe. My friends expression made me smile, I was lucky that he was the one that found me.

The initial tale of my being lost seemed to have broken Yang and Ruby of their crush, or at least helped them get back in control of themselves, as the two girls were basically ignoring me in favor of each other now "You're being ridiculous! Miss Goodwitch would definitely win in a fight, Uncle Qrow is pretty tough but I've seen her fight! Her semblance is amazing!" They had apparently started a conversation on who was stronger, and Ruby was vehemently defending her favorite teachers battle prowess.

Qrows expression had changed from proud to annoyed and I had to fight down a chuckle, luckily for his pride, Yang was there for the defense "Don't be dumb, Uncle Qrow is super fast, and his weapon is awesome" Qrow gave me a smug look behind the girls backs as if to say 'Hah, look how badass I am' only for it to collapse once again as Yang continued "I mean sure he's really old, but so is Goodwitch so it totally doesn't count."

I snorted with laughter as Qrow opened his mouth to protest, but was cut off as we reached the ticket counter "We'll finish this later Yang" the little dark haired girl said with a glare "Hello there, we'de like four tickets to Beacon please?" Qrow closed his mouth and turned away fuming, and I laughed to myself at the two girls having misses the rollercoaster of emotions they'de put their uncle through.

It was really sweet to see family acting like this. Back home my family had been less than warm, not being very touchy feely as evidenced by all my brothers having been subtly murdered by my own dad. Granted he was never going to be father of the year for obvious reasons, but still it had taken me a while to accept all those "accidents" that had befallen my brothers had been at our fathers hand.

I'd probably have been dead five times over if Lara hadn't protected me. She was more like a mother than a sister to me really, granted one of those really inappropriate mothers you see in porn who dress in skimpy bikinis when your friends are over, but still a mother. When I was sick Lara brought me soup, when I was hurt Lara made it better, when I had my first broken heart Lara brought me ice cream and told me stories about ex-boyfriends, and when my hunger rose and consumed poor Shelby Lara held me when I cried.

Now that I thought about it I did have a big sister who took care of me like I could tell Yang did for Ruby. The thought made me smile softly. We had apparently reached the airship (apparently they called them Bullheads no idea why) and as we filed on I realized that the chattering voices of my new friends had ceased. Apparently they'de noticed my silence because they were all looking curiously at me. I grinned sheepishly as I came to the conclusion I had been asked a question and had apparently missed it completely.

"Sorry guys" I said with a wry smile "Lost in thought. Just kind of occurred to me that I'm not in Kansas anymore, and I was thinking about my big sister." I smiled at Ruby and Yang "You guys remind me of us, my dads not the warmest guy" (understatement, but I didn't want to traumatize the girls with tales of my dad, the soul eating, filicidal, daughter raping monster) "and my big sister Lara always looked out for me and my siblings. Its nice to see that kind of thing."

I thought briefly of my own little brother, I'd never met him and didn't know where he was, hell it'd taken every vampire political trick I'd known just to figure out he existed. I silently promised myself that if I ever got back I would track him down. I would protect Harry like Lara had protected me. I realized I'd let myself trail off and felt a hand on my shoulder. Qrow was giving me a quiet reassuring smile "Hey kid, don't start panicking yet ok? If anyone knows how to get you home or can figure it out it'll be Oz."

I was surprised Qrow had been able to tell what I was feeling, or even a part of it. My poker face is usually pretty damn good. Ruby gave me a reassuring smile from the over her uncles shoulder, her eyes were full of genuine sincerity, and it struck me again how lucky I was to have met such genuinely good people "It can be really scary, being alone in a new place. But making new friends you can count on can really help. I don't know if we can get you home Thomas, but as long as you're here you can count on us."

It might've sounded cheesy coming from anyone else, but her bright caring smile warmed my heart. She was right, I was scared, even if I hadn't been admitting it. I was stuck far from anyone I'd ever known, in a strange world with strange rules, but somehow in that moment I felt happier and safer than I had in all the months since I'd become a vampire.

The bullhead reached the school soon after and the others had to drag me off the deck. I was frozen staring at one of the biggest most beautiful structures I'd ever seen. My house back in Chicago was only about one fifth the size, but the large stature was where all similarity ended. Where my house was gaudy and over the top, Beacon Academy gave the distinct impression of quiet dignity and grace, the entire place basically oozed class.

I got some looks as we walked toward where Ozpins office apparently was, Ruby and Yang headed off to find their teammates, making me promise to come meet their friends later, and with a hug from each and a peck on the cheek (not to mention Yang grabbing my ass) they sped off, the blonde giving me a wink and a good natured if slightly naughty grin. Qrow was giving me a less than amused look though thankfully not a glare and I just shrugged "What? It's not like I encouraged her."

My friend rolled his eyes and we walked the rest of the way in companionable silence. It was odd, I was so worried about being stuck here but a part of me…thought it wouldn't be so bad. This world seemed so much brighter and more full of hope. As we approached a set of intricate double doors a woman stepped out to greet us, she was tall and blonde with a severe bun and glasses, her black skirt and white blouse showed off her…frankly amazing figure, and she was wearing, I shit you not, an actual cape.

I felt my hunger rise a bit, I'd kept it down well enough earlier because hangover or not I'd fed fairly deeply only a day or two ago, but with my emotions all over the place my control wasn't as good as I'd have liked and…well there was no reason not to feed on this woman. She wasn't Qrows niece, or a virgin, to be resisted and protected. Try as I might my logical mind couldn't give me a reason not to take her off somewhere into a side corridor and…I suppressed my inner demon. Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. I knew that when I opened them they'de be a darker shade of stormy gray instead of the pale silver theyde been a moment ago.

The woman was giving me a flat placid look, but the part of me that saw prey couldn't help but notice her pupils dilating, her chest heaving with heavy breaths, her pulse pounding against the skin of her throat…her thighs. I shook my head furiously and clamped down hard on the hunger a second time, this time managing to crush it down. I gave her a small smile "I'm sorry, that wasn't intentional, you're very beautiful and I've been somewhat shaken by recent events. My control over my power isn't what it should be."

I saw her breathing normalize, her pupils shrink, and heard her heart slow to a normal cadence. Wow. That was pretty scary. I might've clamped down on my output but my power was still constantly radiating off me, having gotten a solid dose the residuals should've made it hard to overcome, but she'd managed handily. This woman had some pretty serious control. "My name is Glynda Goodwitch, I can understand being nervous, but in the future if you could do your best to suppress your power." Her eyes flashed a warning and she brought her…good god, her riding crop down on her hand. Also Glynda Goodwitch? Seriously? Guess there really is no place like home.

Apparently people used riding crops for the same thing here as back home because after a second she looked down at it, turned bright red, and without a single outward sign of embarrassment besides her neon blush turned her attention to the business at hand. She opened the double doors and waved me in, and the top button of her blouse popped on a particularly deep breath as I went by, giving me a decent eyeful. Weird, it almost looked like the button glowed purple for a second.

The office she let us into was spacious and dimly lit. Lots of dark hardwoods in the furniture, and deep colors on the walls and floors of the room lending it a serious somber vibe, it reminded me a bit of my fathers office back home, but I tried not to hold that against the man in the chair. He gave me a gentle smile and gestured me in while Glynda gave one last nod and closed the door "It seems Qrow wasn't exaggerating when he told me of your affect on the opposite sex, I haven't seen our miss Goodwitch that out of sorts for some time, that said, I cant say the lack of control you just displayed doesn't worry me."

The man behind the desk was…unusual. He had an odd ageless quality, despite the gray hair and the spectacles and the old fashioned clothes he didn't seem old. He seemed…like a predator. Like called to like and this man was as much a wolf in sheeps clothing as I was. The hair might've been natural but the glasses, the air of sagacity, the cane, the mug, the suit, all of these were there to give you the impression that this man was harmless and benevolent. Nothing that has to try that hard to not be scary is anything I want any part of pissing off.

He seemed to recognize when I figured that out and his eyes sharpened a bit. Like someone who is very distracted deciding to pay attention "I'm sorry sir" I said "my Hunger is part of my soul, its been a few days since I've fed, as long as I don't do any strenuous activity I should be able to safely keep myself under control for a few more. That said, my emotions are pretty scattered and that makes it really hard to focus." I gave him wry smile "that said I was able to reign it in, mostly I was just surprised because your Glynda is so beautiful, apparently all the women in this world are attractive so now that I know I wont be thrown off again."

The man, who was obviously Oz, gave me a nod, and I couldn't help but marvel at it, his smile, the incline of his head, even his eyes were jovial and accommodating, but I could almost feel the predator underneath, all of his charming reasonable parts should add up to a charming reasonable whole, but there was something under the affable headmaster that was throwing off the math. My predatory instincts were screaming at me to run, to hide, to curl up in a ball and hope to god this terrible beast decided I was beneath his attention. But there wasn't a sense of malice either, it was like looking at a hurricane, its big and scary and you know it could destroy you but even if it did it wouldn't be personal.

I decided that I was going to ignore the feeling. Not because I didn't trust it, but because I trusted Qrow not to bring me to a horrible monster that would eat my face. Not to mention that if this guy decided to kill me I got the sneaking suspicion that neither I nor Qrow, nor even my family in its entirety had they been here could have stopped him. No point worrying about things you cant change. He gave an amused chuckle "I see from your face you just came to the very wise decision to put aside your fear of me. I respect that kind of bravery. I apologize if I unsettled you, in my younger days I was quite the warrior and some parts of the old me are still there. Its interesting your senses are good enough to catch it."

I resisted the urge to glare, because again, scary super badass "Ok well now that that's settled, I need your help. I assume Qrow gave you a rundown but to restate, I'm from another world, I believe magic was used to get me here and is my only way home. Qrow says you have some knowledge of magic and are one of the few people on this world that does. So I'd like you to help me get back to my world, and if possible figure out why I'm here so it doesn't happen again. So can you help?"

That got me another amused chuckle "Well Thomas you're certainly straightforward. An admirable quality, especially in one so young, I'm afraid I have no clue how to get you home, though I suspect divining the method by which you were brought here might shed some light on the problem. Regardless it's hardly important. The second question you asked is much more pressing. Why were you brought here? Travel between worlds requires quite a bit of power. Yes, the why is definitely the important part. After all, it might be the same reason your mother ended up here all those years ago."

 **Ok guys this was a hard chapter to write. I lost some momentum on the Ozpin thing, and it made this a pain to get through. Hopefully I can do better now that I've gotten into some material with more momentum. That said, reviews feed me. I know everyone says that but its true, reading your opinions and viewpoints inspires me and pushes me to write, so seriously guys, keep the reviews coming and my writing will go infinitely faster.**


	3. A graying tower, alone on the sea

I stared at him in shock "…my mother?" My mind was reeling "You…knew my mother?" Ozpin gave a rolling chuckle at my expression "Quite well as a matter of fact, and I'm not the only one." He reached into his desk and pulled out an album, he flipped through pages for a few seconds before holding out a photograph.

The picture was of five happy people in the middle of a kitchen. On one side of the marble island in the center was a blonde man with bright blue eyes, maybe a bit younger than me, it took me a second to recognize Taiyang but the color of the eyes and hair were only part of the puzzle, because at his side, grinning fiercely, was a woman with black and red hair, red eyes, and a face identical to Yang.

Taiyang had a hose from the sink and was spraying water over the island at what appeared to be a much younger version of Qrow. My friend was covered in flour and hiding behind the marble, laughing brightly and clutching a girl in a white cloak, with a face that reminded me a lot of Ruby, against him. But the person that made my blood freeze was the fifth participant. She was standing on counter behind Taiyang, halfway out of a veil and only visible from the top up.

I'd never seen my mother smile like that, she had a mischievous gleam in her eye as she triumphantly held what appeared to be a full bag of flour (trace amounts of which seemed to be coating all the people and things in the kitchen) preparing to dump it all over the unsuspecting blonde. When she'd live with us she was always scheming or worrying, always looking over her shoulder for my father. To seem my mother, even younger than I was, truly happy and relaxed, it was…beautiful.

I glanced over at Qrow to see his reaction to what I'm assuming was learning for the first time he'd known my mother and saw that he was…blank. His face was twisted in an expression of horrible pain and his haunted eyes were locked on the picture where he held the little brunette in his arms. Looking back at the picture more closely I could see they were smiling at each other as they sheltered from the spray of water, and the look of pure adoration on my friends face as he looked at the girl was heartrending.

After a second the look smoothed out into the lazy arrogant smirk that I was quickly coming to realize was my friends defense from the world around him, and he turned his normal expression back to me, albeit maybe a bit softer around the eyes than I'd seen up to this point "I didn't know, that you were Maggies boy. Mags was a friend, the big sister I never had, mostly because the little one I did have was an insufferable jackass" he gave me a wide grin, and I could see on his face that Qrow loved his sister, had loved both of them in fact.

Ozpin cleared his throat softly "The main issue, though, is that Margaret showed up here mainly the same way you did. From what I could gather, she had a gift for navigating what she called "ways" and was out on some kind of scouting expedition in the outer reaches of a place she called "the nevernever" when she was blindsided by something. She blacked out and woke up here. To this day I don't know why she was dropped here."

I gave a frustrated growl "Well that's something to look into, but at least we know how she got back. She was only seventeen or eighteen in this picture, she clearly found her way home after this, considering I wasn't born until about five years after this was taken. All you need to do is tell me how she got home and I can follow the same path." The thought of abandoning information on my mother did not sound appealing, and I mentally tacked on that once we knew how I could leave I would be on my way…after I did some investigating.

Ozpin shook his head "Unfortunately I don't know how she found her way back. As you know Margaret was a powerful practitioner of magic, but even she was unable to open a path from this place, she said it wasn't connected to the ways she normally used. She was fairly certain our world exists past the edges of your reality, beyond what she called "the outer gates". Did she mention her travels here to you at all?" There was a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

I felt my blood turn to liquid nitrogen in my veins. That…that was not good. I had assumed that I was in the deep parts of faerie, the hiding lands, but if I was beyond the outer gates…I was pretty fucked. A powerful wizard like my mom might be able to find some magical bullshit workaround to get back past the gates but I had no such luck. Even if I somehow was able to figure out how to get back to earth (which was only slightly less absurd than saying "if I somehow figured out how to jog at a forty five degree angle from the upright position down through solid concrete") there was no guarantee that I could actually do it.

Theoretically nothing from this side of the gate could cross without a direct summoning from our side. I wasn't sure if that rule applied to things that were from our world in the first place but who the hell knew. I flopped bonelessly into the big comfy chair across from Ozpins desk. I was screwed, never getting home. "She…she died. When I was very young. She didn't have time to mention much.

Ozpin gave me a sympathetic grimace and made a thoughtful face "Well then it seems that you find yourself in the same position Margaret found herself in, unenviable though it may be. I like to think of myself as a more learned man than I was in my younger days, back when Margaret first arrived I was but a boy myself. In my youth I was all fire and ferocity, but I like to think I've gained wisdom with age, even if only through repeated and rather horrifying mistakes." The look in his eyes was feverish, almost wild, like someone had dropped a match into a pool of kerosene "This time I'll solve the problem, for Maggie, because I owe her that, for what she meant to me, and for being a light in my life in a time where there was far too much darkness."

I raised my head and gave the older man a look I knew must be so pathetic I could hardly stand to be making it, but I couldn't let myself hope anymore. I'd done nothing for months but hope. Hope I wasn't going crazy, then wishing that I was. Hope that I could go back to normal when I never could, hope I was just lost and could find my way home. Frankly I was just out of hope.

Oz must have been able to tell because he nodded "Well, while I work on your problem you can use Maggie's old rooms in the school, while she was here she remodeled and old maintenance attic, and I never did have the heart to tear it down, though its probably quite dusty. I'm afraid I wont be able to put you in classes with students. Due to your…peculiar nature and appetites I'm concerned you wouldn't mix well, but I'll have Qrow give you some one on one training, in case you run into any Grimm, you need to able to wield Aura to dispose of them."

I'd heard the Grimm mentioned a few times, at the bar and even on the bullhead on the way here but I wasn't sure what exactly they were "I've heard that term before, but I'm not sure what it means. What exactly are Grimm? Also, do I really need to learn to fight them? I haven't seen any around here so presumably this place is safe from them, and hopefully I won't be here long enough to need training if I stay in the safe zones."

Ozpin shook his head but Qrow was the one who answered "No dice kid, the Grimm are the enemies of humanity, Remnant is crawling with them, aside from not knowing exactly when we'll be able to get you home, we don't know if the answers you need will be available close by, we might need to go looking, and travel means fighting Grimm. But don't worry, we wont spend all your time training. You can interact with the students, just cant train with them. You don't know how long you'll be here, you should make friends, its what Maggie did, and what she'd want for you."

I tipped my head to concede his point, though which one I was conceding I didn't know "Fair enough, and hey it could be worse, you could have me training with the sexy librarian" I gave an involuntary shudder, which was definitely fear and totally had nothing to do with the image of using that riding crop on what I could only assume from that ridiculously tight skirt was a nearly godlike ass. I shook my head to clear it, I could just tell that all the sexy women in this world were going to really mess with my head. Oh joy.

Qrow gave me an amused look "Thanks for the vote of confidence, kid. As for your other question, the Grimm are monsters we fight. They're the manifestation of anonymity, beasts formed of shadows and malice, we've been fighting a losing war against the bastard for ages. By working together we've recently managed to halt their advance but they still occupy all the spaces between the kingdom as well as a substantial area of their own beyond our borders."

That sounded…almost uncomfortably like some of the things I'd read about training for my future duties as a venator, but seeing as that kind of thinking would make me curl up in a ball and cry I dismissed it for now until I could get more info "Ok and what about Aura, Yang and Ruby mentioned it, I get the sense its some kind of power source you have, but Qrow mentioned seeing mine, does that mean I have some kind of other energy source I can access?"

Ozpin took the lead on that one, Qrow clearly deferring to the other man. I got the feeling they'de been contemporaries as younger men and from what little hints Ozpin had dropped as well as his power I was betting Ozpin had been calling the shots back then. "Aura is the life force of a human being, our souls for lack of a better term. By channeling Aura through your body or weapons you can do amazing things." Channeling life energy through your body to make yourself more powerful also sounded pretty familiar. Maybe I could learn something after all.

I slumped again, this time in exhaustion instead of defeat. I'd woken up pretty recently but between the hangover my body was fighting and this conversation I was fried. "Listen, thank you both for everything, I truly appreciate it. I'm just tired right now. Think maybe you could show me to my place? I promised Ruby I'd meet her team but I'd kind of like to see where I'm going to be staying and decompress a bit before we track them down." I saw Oz give me a sympathetic look and we all got to our feet.

He gestured to the door "Of course, I'm sure Qrow still remembers the way, he and Summer use to spend many an evening watching movies up there with Maggie, team STRQ were all close to her, but Qrow and Summer were her best friends. My own team spent plenty of time with her as well, really we all had our own little group, I do miss those times. Enjoy your accommodations and if you need anything feel free to ask."

I wasn't sure what he meant by teams and resolved to ask Qrow when we got to my new digs. As we walked out of the room I glanced back to see Ozpin with his back turned. If my vampire senses weren't so good I wouldn't have seen his reflection in the glass as the door closed, and I definitely would've missed the silent tears flowing down his face.

The walk up to the dilapidated attic my mother had called home wasn't long, I assumed classes must have started already because the halls were all empty of students, or of anything really. Qrow was strangely silent as we walked but after about five minutes into the walk to my new accommodations he started to talk, not to me, just out loud, looking straight ahead and back to a place I couldn't see.

"Before team STRQ was…what we became, before we got strong, we had a lot of problems. Raven and I didn't get along as kids, we competed often, you'de think as twins we would've gotten along but I resented her for being born first, and she resented me for being able the son our father wanted." His eyes were glazed over as he waded into the depths of his memory "Tai was always following Raven around, from the day we arrived at Beacon, and Summer just watched him do it…just suffered."

He exhaled and I saw his unfocused eyes harden "I hated him for that. For such a long time. My Summer, my whole world, and she looked at him like he hung the moon. That bastard didn't even notice her, just stumbled after my insufferable sister like a lost puppy. She loved me. I know it. Even then, before she found out how I felt she loved me, and I was so grateful, but that didn't make it tear me up any less when I saw her blush when he came around, or when she would fawn over him on missions, even when he was the least wounded of us all."

I thought about asking what this had to do with mother, but judging by Qrows far away gaze even if this wasn't something he needed to get off his chest there was a decent chance he wouldn't hear me. Qrow wasn't really here with me right now. "The funny part was Raven didn't really even notice Tai, all she could see or think about was Oz, and it drove that idiot over the edge to hear her go on about how strong and amazing he was when he didn't even know who she was. I would've felt bad for him if it didn't feel so damn good to watch him go through what I was."

"Team OGRE were the kings of the school back then, and Oz was the top of the food chain. He was in his last year at Beacon and he was just… well Maggie put it best. She said your world had a story, about a boy named Achilles, whose mother dipped him in a river of death as a baby, and when he came out he was just…perfect. Stronger, faster, tougher, never did anything wrong. Oz was like that. I mean sure he was arrogant and obnoxious to people he wasn't close to, but he had reason to be, he really was Gods gift." Qrow let out a hollow little laugh at that. Something in the sound was brittle, like he could very easily be sobbing instead of laughing, but the latter seemed more appropriate.

"But when Maggie showed up, it was like…the whole world changed. Like she was a lever that shifted the planet just a few degrees and suddenly everything fit perfectly. Maggie took a shine to me and I started spending time with her, and Oz found her fascinating so I started spending time with him too. Summer realized that I was more important to her than she thought and started getting jealous about all the time I spent with Maggie, and the dressing down she got from Maggie when she tried to mark her territory still has my ears ringing to this day."

This part of the story was clearly the happiest for him, because the smile on Qrows face came bursting through the glazed sadness like the sun through a breaking storm " Suddenly Tai and Raven were spending more time together, she started noticing him more and they even became friends, and that left me with Summer, my Summer, who finally looked at me the way I had always wanted, and I had a family, a real one, not the cold mechanical unit we'de been back home, Oz was the cool older brother and Maggie was the doting big sister, Tai was the goofy cousin you get into trouble with and even Raven and I started getting along. The rest of Oz's team were always around too, Glynda was Maggies best friend, and Reign and Edward spent all their time trying to corrupt us all."

There were tears there now, and not of joy, or at least not totally, and I could see my friends memories heading toward a cliff, the happiness about to plummet into the depths of despair "I was so happy. I had everything I ever wanted, and I loved Maggie so much for giving me that, for saving me from that plodding lonely existence and showing me what life really was. And then she was gone. We stayed close, after she disappeared, for a while. But in the end Maggie was the glue that held us together."

"Oz was never the same after she was vanished. We never knew what happened and he looked for her everywhere. We were pretty sure she'd just gone home but he refused to stop looking, that cocky obnoxious asshole had been gone for a while, he had become our cool confident big brother, but when she left…he just broke. He'd spend weeks in the library, poring over every book on magic he could find, he would forget to eat for days .The rest of us weren't any better. "

"Raven and Tai had started dating before she disappeared, but with everything falling apart the stress started to get to them, they were on and off for the rest of our time at beacon, Glynda got…she got cold, besides Maggie Oz was her best friend and when he broke she became his surrogate caretaker. She only had time for Oz, spent every day making sure he ate and slept, and never had time for the rest of us. Reign and Edward tried to keep in touch, it was nice to have them around, they were always good for a laugh."

"But the one who took it worst of all was Summer. I don't think any of us knew how much she looked up to Maggie until she was gone, but my Summer was never the same after Mags vanished. She focused all her time and energy on training. She pulled away from me and lost herself in the work, and finally, I was alone. Just like at the beginning. After a few months Team OGRE graduated, and even the skeleton of my beloved family was gone, and without the bones of what we were, Team STRQ fell apart."

His eyes were streaming tears by this point, though I couldn't hear it in his voice, he sounded totally normal as he cried for the family he'd lost "Oh you'de never have known it to hear about us. We were top of our class, but nothing besides that. Besides Raven and Tai, who spent all their time fighting when they weren't making up in the most obscene ways possible, we were just strangers who sometimes met up to fight grim." He turned and gave me an a fierce glare "So you wanted to know why I'm helping you, why I took you in and protected you and brought you to Oz, its because I lied when I said I'd never seen an Aura like yours. I always had better eyes than anyone else when it came to Aura, so good I could even read similarities in family lines."

"So you may not know me well yet, but I promise you Thomas, I will protect you, I will teach you how to live in this world and how to be strong, because if theres even a chance you can do for Ruby and Yang what Maggie did for us theres nothing I wouldn't do for that. But mostly because youre my big sisters little boy and what kind of uncle would I be if I didn't watch out for you." And with that last snarl he grabbed me and pulled me into a fierce hug, and for the first time since Lara had told me what I was, I felt safe.

 **Wow ok that one went in a direction I wasn't expecting but I liked it. Qrow got a lot of screen time this chapter which is good because I wanted him to be a big part of this one and its shaping up that way for sure. Let me know what you thought with reviews guys. Cant wait to hear back.**


	4. If I should fall along the way

After Qrows big reveal we didn't speak until we reached my rooms. Learning so much about my mother and her past here made me eager to learn more, to see places she'd been, and do things she'd done, and the room was a perfect opportunity to do that. The room was…warm, lots of warm colors, still bright and cheerful even with the fading of time and the sheet of dust settled over everything there.

There was on old couch that I suspected had been red at one point, now a faded pink, with a dusty old moth eaten blanket draped over it sitting in front of a wall of grease covered windows. Along the cement floor there were rugs and carpets lay in a patchwork grid of dusty, ratty fibers. But the thing that made me stop breathing, the thing that made me freeze in place, was the painting.

The old man on the canvas was big, not just large in size because the portrait was life size but somehow…big, he had a power about him, a vitality that was as much a testament to the Mother I knew had painted this and the love she had for him as it was a reflection his own strength. The old man was balding, his silver hair receding up under the brim of the hat he wore, though he had enough hair in his bushy silver beard to cover it ten times over. His left hand was work and knotted around knuckles as he gripped the wizards staff, and I could see the splits in the rough skin proving that this man knew a sword as well as a plowshare.

The most amazing thing about the painting though, was the love. This man had meant something special to my mother, he had been her hero, but something about the distance between him and the canvas, something about the direction those electric blue eyes were pointed made it clear that while she felt he was too far away to ever love her back this was someone my mother had idolized and looked up to. A family member maybe, could this be her grandfather maybe he seemed a substantial amount older than my mother had when painting this? I didn't know, but more than the image of what could be more family I treasured the glimpse into my mothers heart.

Qrow noticed me staring and smirked "That's Ebenezer. Maggie only talked about him when she was well and truly smashed. At first I figured it for anger, god knows I have Daddy issues of my own, but later on I figured out Mags was disappointed in herself for not living up to his expectations. You'd have thought he was Theraphon reincarnated the way she talked about him." At my blank look he added "Theraphon was the first hunter, he was supposedly one of the original settlers of Remnant, and he mobilized those of our people with control of their Aura into a fighting force to drive back the grimm."

As fascinating as that little puzzle piece was (and it really was, considering that if this Theraphon guy had gotten here there might be an answer there on getting me home or at least back through the gates if he wasn't just some local folklore) it paled in comparison to something I had been missing up till now. My mother was seventeen when she landed here, which by local time seemed to have been no more than twenty years ago. Considering that my mother was born in seventeen ninety seven put us at a relative time speed of a decade to one year.

I forced myself to calm down, freaking out over the time difference wasn't going to accomplish anything. Qrow seemed to have picked up on my mini panic attack and was watching me with one eyebrow raised above those blood red eyes. I remembered him mentioning having better eyes than even other people here and wondered exactly how much he saw from me. Oh well, that way lay madness. I dropped all my things on the bed and spun to the door. "Well then, I believe I promised Ruby and Yang a visit to them and their teammates. You coming old man?" I barely got out of the way in time avoid the flat of his blade upside the head, old people can be so sensitive.

The walk down to Beacon proper wasn't long, and we seemed to be getting plenty of stares from the now bustling crowds of students. Qrow had procured a flask from somewhere on his person and was taking liberal swigs as we walked, every once in a while he would wink at one of the older more well built female students.

Being that the average entrance age of most beacon students was seventeen that put most of the older students in their twenties but I got the feeling Qrow only winked at the mainly flattered and giggling girls to enjoy the disapproving glares from some of the faculty and other students. He might play the rogue but my new uncle was more interested in being a cantankerous drunken bastard than any random beacon girl he might have a shot with, besides I was pretty sure as antisocial and dickish as he acted Qrow would rather lop off his left nut than hurt Ruby or Yang, no way was he going to make trouble for them at school, not like that anyway.

After a few minutes of companionable silence we finally came to a small beat up dorm room door. Qrow knocked sharply on the door, and for some reason it didn't surprise me that he went out of his way to preserve their privacy. The door cracked open and a pretty girl with snow white hair in a long ponytail opened the door. She took one look at us and raised an eyebrow. The girl was thin and lithe, very pretty in a cold, remote kind of way. Her white dress framed a well muscled physique and her pretty face had one scar along its length right through one ice blue eye.

I could sense some mild interest from her but apparently the state of my couch rumpled clothes and slightly greasy hair outweighed my supernatural sex appeal in her eyes. Maybe she was pathologically OCD. Or maybe it was something else, Ruby and Yang had become less nervous around me as I spent longer here, which was pretty much the opposite of what was supposed to happen, and now this girl was overlooking my appeal in favor of disapproval? I'd think that my power was fading except Glynda had been giving me the eye earlier. Now that I thought about it though the tight skirt and the riding crop had really gotten me going, I might've been flexing a little bit supernaturally speaking without meaning to.

Did that mean that Aura gave some kind of natural protection to my baseline fuck me vibe but couldn't hold out when I turned up the heat? It would explain why Yang and Ruby were receptive right after my hang over and then calmed down later. That was actually really exciting if it was true. As long as I kept fed that meant I could actually be around people of the opposite sex for extended periods of time. I could have female friends again. I hadn't been able to do that since my Hunger woke, constant exposure degraded self control and all of my female friends had basically cornered me and begged me to fuck them. After Shelby I had decided not to have sex with any women I cared about again, as awful as that sounds, and the embarrassment of throwing themselves at me and being rejected had driven all my female friends away.

The white haired girl snapped me out of my thoughts with an irritated huff "Yes? Its impolite to knock on someones door and just stare at them like a moron. Did you want something or are you training for the standing around like an idiot category in the Vytal Festival games? If so you have a real shot at the gold, your raw talent for gaping like a dipshit is nearly supernatural." I blinked at that and gaped at her in shock. Wow, that was incredibly hostile. Funny, but hostile.

I heard a cackle from the room and Yang threw the door open "They're with us Weiss Queen. Don't mind her guys she's a bit snappish today, her Daddy froze her credit cards." She turned to the irate white haired girl "Weiss Schnee this is our uncle Qrow and Thomas Raith, a friend of ours. Come on in guys and try to ignore the cold shoulder." Weiss harumphed as we crowded into the frankly unsafe looking room.

The room was for the most part kind of a mess. Books and clothes lay strewn everywhere, mostly divided into four parts, separated by the two incredibly shoddy and badly constructed bunk beds held together by what looked like books, tape, and strong wishes. In the first section, which I assume was Rubys, was an odd assortment of weapons magazines and junk food wrappers. Ruby herself was perched on the top of the more unstable looking bunk bed, wearing headphones blaring some music I'd never heard and reading a copy of "Dust and Ammo".

Without bothering to actually focus on her sister Yang reached down to the floor and chucked a book at Rubys head. The younger girl noticed it at the last second and vanished from the bunk in a swirl of rose petals. She reappeared glaring at Yang before she noticed us and her glare split into a beaming smile, she took off her headphones and barreled into us, gripping both Qrow and I in a crushing hug "Oh, you kept your promise! I'm so excited, I cant wait for you to meet everyone, they're all so nice, and Weiss is here too!"

The white haired girl glared at her partner "Hey!" Ruby just flashed her an adorable smile and flashed a peace sign with both hands. Judging by Rubys interaction with her partner I was going to assume that they were bunkmates, which made the clean tidy space on the other side of Rubys bed, with the neatly stacked containers Weiss's side. The huffy girl turned to us, well me mostly Qrow was just sitting in the background trying not to snicker "I…apo…apol…I should've been nicer. I'm having a bad day and I took it out on you." She stuck out her hand to me "Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company."

I leaned down and kissed the offered hand, eliciting a bright blush that had nothing to do with my newly contained power and everything to do with having her hand kissed by a good looking boy. The area next to Weiss was I was guessing Yangs, the area was littered with motorcycle maintenance manuals, dirty jackets and pants and strewn about the debris I could see a few lacy thongs and even a g-string or two, though interestingly there were no bras, not that I had ever observed Yang wearing one. Shell casings topped the whole mess and one pile of detritus was topped with what looked like it had once been a half eaten sandwich before it had gone through a few million years of evolution. I made a face, theres messy and then theres just gross.

The last area on the far side of the second bed was neat and cramped. Piles of books stacked nearly to the ceiling in neat columns of what looked like every conceivable subject. The girl crouched on top of the bunk was staring curiously at me with pretty amber eyes over the top of a book she must have been reading. I froze. She was beautiful. Long dark hair, milk white skin, toned and athletic, because she was crouched instead of lying down I could see her pants tight against her legs and ass and I was having a lot of trouble not staring at every inch of her. I realized when she blushed that just like with Glynda my desire was causing my power to spike, but now that I knew it was I was able to clamp down on my Hunger.

The girl seemed to notice the sudden spike of lust dropping off and scowled at me. I didn't think she knew what had happened but I was pretty sure she knew it had been my fault. Ruby, god bless her, obliviously bounced over to the spot I had walked to and glomped me. "Blake! You have to meet Thomas, hes new in town and I think you'll like him a lot, hes really quiet and mentioned that he reads a lot." I noticed the girls eyes lock onto where Ruby was touching me and narrow. She clearly thought of me as a danger to her team, and after my little slip a minute ago I could hardly blame her.

I gave her a serious look and inclined me head "Sorry about that. My…" what had they called their powers "semblance, is tough to control, you caught me off guard and it jumped a bit. I've got it locked down now. " I held out my hand to her "Thomas Raith, its nice to meet you." I could see her measure my sincerity, and the reactions of the others in the room before deciding to hop gracefully down and take my hand. I could tell from the tension in her body she wasn't comfortable around me and would be watching me like a hawk, and it made me think better of her.

She took my hand in her cool, soft fingers and shook, eyes tracking me suspiciously "Blake Belladonna, like she said. Nice to meet you." Maybe it was my imagination, but I swear I saw that pretty black bow twitch. I could tell I was going to have to work for this girls approval. But hey didn't seem like I had much else to do.

 **Ok guys big chapter here and it was a rough one for me to write. I have a lot of really big plans for this story but theyre long term and doing the foundation work is turning out to be tougher than expected but no matter. We introd team RWBY so that's out of the way, this story takes place during the Vytal Festival but I'm going to be stretching the time between the rounds out to a few months. As for their reactions to Thomas, Weiss can be a stickler at first but she warms up, and it just seemed right to have Blake be suspicious. Out of the whole team shes the one most affected by her past and by treachery. Not to mention though Thomas doesn't know her faunus instincts are screaming that hes a predator and its making her edgy. Next chapter will be an intro of team juniper and some exploring of the festival probably, and fair warning Thomas is gonna need to feed soon. As for the rest of it I know this chapter had a lot of things crammed in but it was all important development. My favorite is that Thomas has to actually try to get past Aura, it would've been impossible for him to form any lasting friendships if every girl that met him was halfway to tearing their clothes off. Anyway reviews please, and feel free to drop any requests for Thomas's first feeding though I have a decent idea who it might be.**


	5. The one you feed

After introductions we all decided we were hungry and headed for the cafeteria, I was almost surprised to realize I needed food. Eating for real helped keep the Hunger down so I always tried to make sure to have several meals throughout the day, and sucked up into the whirlwind of today I'd forgotten to eat anything since this morning. I was a bit surprised at how long it had been, it didn't feel like hours but a glance at the scroll I had found in my room had the time at almost noon.

The halls weren't as busy as they had been when we'de made our way to the dorms, though they were much more crowded than the emptiness of earlier. Qrow had unscrewed the pommel of his sword and was covertly sipping from what appeared to be some kind of hilt flask (only him) while he tried to act like he wasn't watching all of the girls like a hawk for danger. I noted with interest that despite Yang being biologically related to him his gaze focused most on Ruby.

For her part the little black haired girl with the red streaks was babbling animatedly to Weiss, who was punctuating her partners chatter with exasperated sighs "this is going to be so amazing!" squealed the brunette "we can introduce Thomas to Pyrrha and Jaune and Ren and Nora and everybody else and it's gonna be the best day ever!" I glanced at my apparently semi-adopted cousin (Qrow had taken Yang and Ruby aside and given them a brief run down on his past with my mother, presumably to bring us closer, and I suspected partially because he was hoping thinking of me as family would make them less susceptible to my…side effects, if I got hungry) and stared in awe. She'd been talking non-stop for almost ten minutes and I hadn't heard her breathe once.

Yang laughed at my expression and ruffled Rubys hair "Don't worry Tommy you get used to that. Rubes can talk a mile a minute when she get excited and showing off family is her favorite thing. Poor Uncle Qrow spent most of her childhood having every friend she made at signal dragged into his classroom so she could show him off. He was always a great sport about it, even when she was really little and there was nail painting involved. He's such a pushover when it comes to those puppy dog eyes."

Qrow was glaring at his blonde niece like he could turn her to ash with a glance, and I saw him consider telling her off before glancing down at his hilt flask and then shaking his head. My friend had lagged to the back presumably to be out of sight while he imbibed, and clearly whatever was in his flask was more important than a point of pride. I turned to glance at the last member of team RWBY and saw her giving me a suspicious sideways look. As soon as she saw me looking she flicked her glance down to the open book she was reading as we walked.

I sidled up next to her, hoping to ease some of the tension my inadvertent power spike had elicited from the dark haired girl. She seemed like she was going to just ignore me and read for a minute, and I didn't say anything, not wanting to interrupt her or force the conversation. "Can I help you Thomas?" I'd have thought he was irritated but the words had no bite, just a sort of blank softness that spoke of the disruption of an appreciated stillness. I got the feeling Blake preferred silence when she could have it.

I gave her a friendly smile "I don't mean to be a bother, if you're busy I can always rejoin the others, you just seemed to be enjoying the book, what is it about?" She looked at me inscrutably for a minute, almost as if her face couldn't decide on an expression, before it smoothed out and her eyes flicked back to the book.

I almost expected her to just ignore me but to my surprise she spoke up in that same quiet voice "It's a book I read at the beginning of the school year, I've found myself thinking a lot about the way my time at Beacon started. Re-reading old books helps me get in touch with the things I thought and felt during the time they were a part of my life. This one is about a man with two souls."

I nodded my head "I do the same thing with books, I'll read an old favorite and find myself thinking of a taste or smell or place I encountered when I was still reading it. As for the book itself it sounds interesting. It's a hard thing to have two conflicting interests at war inside you. Kind of reminds me of an old story I heard back home."

She gave me an appraising look, like she was weighing the interest of hearing a new story with the annoyance of having to talk to me for however long I took to tell it. After a second she raised an eyebrow questioningly. It was impressive how much she could convey without actually speaking. "It's an old story, and there are a couple versions, but I'll tell it the way I heard it."

"One day an old man was sitting on his porch when a young boy ran up. The boy was agitated, and the old man, who was his grandfather, asked the boy what was wrong. 'Grandpa' said the boy 'I saw one of the other boys in the village push a girl down and his friends all laughed. Why do people do such awful things? Are those boys just evil?' The old man gave his grandson a sad smile 'Yes my boy, they are. Inside those boys is a monster. They all have within them a terrible wolf that feeds on their hate and their anger, and every time they do something cruel or spiteful the monster grows a little stronger, and controls them a little more."

Blakes eyes seemed to lock on mine, and for some reason the mention of the animal inside the boys made her eyes grow a bit colder, but despite her obvious unhappiness I continued the tale " The boy was terribly upset 'but grandfather' he said in fear 'why do we allow such monsters in our village? Why not chase away these boys who have inside them such a terrible beast?' The old man gave the boy the same sad smile 'Because my boy, were we to chase away everyone with such a beast there would be no one left in the village, we all have such a monster inside us' the boy looked terrified 'I have a monster like that inside? So am I to become cruel and hateful like those boys? I too am evil?"

Blakes eyes were burning by this point, boring into my with a white hot intensity, but with no idea why the story was upsetting her so I couldn't think of anything to do but finish it "The old mans smile grew bright and pleased and the boy was confused when he grandfather said 'Oh yes, there is such a wolf within you too, and within me. We all have such an animal. But fear not, for there is not one beast within us, but two. As the first wolf grows in strength and influence when we do evil so too does the other when we do good. Where the first wolf grows strong on rage and despair, the second dines on hope and love. Where the first would consume fear, the second sups on joy, this animal too is within us all, and is what makes us all innately good. These two beasts do battle within us, to decide what kind of person we become."

Her expression at that point shifted from cold to…curious, her anger turning to interest. "The boy looked at his grandfather for a long moment, relieved by his words, before again becoming concerned 'But grandfather, if we all have both inside us how can we know what kind of person we will be? Which wolf is going to win?' The old man gave the boy an indulgent smile, as if stating something obvious 'the one you feed.'" Blake stared at me for a long moment after I finished and gave me a serious nod.

As I finished talking we finally reached the door to the lunch room and I reached out and pulled it open for her. She walked in without meeting my eyes and headed for the table the others had already sat down at with a few people I didn't recognize, but as she walked away she stopped and glanced over her shoulder at me "That was an interesting story, I've never heard it before. My book is similar, but very different. Perhaps when I'm done you might like to read it."

She didn't wait for an answer before walking off and sliding into the seat between Yang and the wall. I followed sedately behind thinking of the conversation and what it might have meant, before deciding that the girl was just a mystery to me. I slipped into the seat next to Ruby who seemed to be waiting for me, Qrow had disappeared when we entered the room, I suppose lunch with a bunch of teenagers wasn't his thing. "Hey Ruby, so what kind of food do you guys have here? I'm starving."

Ruby grinned at me "Oh pretty much anything you could want, the chicken strips are my favorite, but Yang usually gets steak. We have desserts too, but they're different depending on the day. Today is banana cream pie, sadly cookie day isn't till Friday, despite a very strong student movement to institute an every day cookie option." Yang widened her eyes over Rubys shoulder and pointed at her sister mouthing ' _just her'_ and circling her finger around her ear which made me grin.

Ruby, completely oblivious to her sisters proclamation of her residence in crazy town grinned over at the other people at the table "You can go grab food in just a minute, I wanted to introduce you to some people. These are some friends of ours, Team JNPR! They're the hunter team that lives closest to us and we hang out a lot, I just know you guys are going to be friends!"

I smiled at the other people at the table a bit awkwardly, it was a weird feeling honestly, I wasn't a shy person, being as good looking as I was and as good with women lent itself pretty heavily to confidence, but something about how Ruby was introducing me, the proud little cousin showing me off to her friends made me feel nervous and self conscious. My family was so messed up and horrible, now I had a chance to find out what being in a real family felt like. Even before I found out what I was my family had been cold and distant, especially my father, and I couldn't stop the part of me that wanted to know what this would be like.

The other people for their part seemed almost as nervous, and the first person to extend a hand was a pretty redhead with a ponytail. "Hi there, my name is Pyrrha Nikos, it's wonderful to meet a member of Rubys family. She said you only recently found each other so this must be overwhelming I understand how daunting fitting in in a new place can be, if you need anything feel free to ask any of us, that's what friends are for." Her smile was warm and maternal, and I admit to being a bit confused as to how this beautiful charming girl could have trouble fitting in but I shook it off and took her hand with a grateful smile.

The other girl in the group popped up over her shoulder "And I'm Nora Valkyrie! I like smashing things with my hammer and my best friend Ren" she nodded at the calm boy next to her with black and pink hair "but not like like-like, we're just friends, a lot of people think we're like together because we're both really sexy. Does that happen to you? Because you're pretty sexy too, I bet people think that about you and your friends all the time." I almost thought she was hitting on me but the girl seemed to genuinely not care how attractive I was, she just clearly didn't have a filter.

The aforementioned friend gave a wry smile and shook his head "I'm sorry about her, she can be pretty blunt but she's really very sweet, and you couldn't find a better friend. As she mentioned my name is Ren. Lie Ren to be exact, welcome to Beacon, Ruby mentioned you're going to be doing some one on one training with your Uncle, but hopefully we'll see you around outside classes, and as Pyrrha said, should you need anything feel free to seek us out. We're always happy to help." I smiled gratefully and thanked him for the offer.

The last member of the group was a rumpled looking blonde boy with a self deprecating smile, he extended a hand like his teammates "Jaune Arc, nice to meet you. You must be really strong to be apprenticed under a real pro-hunter. I'm sure you'll have an easy enough time fitting in but like my team said if you need anything you can always ask RWBY or us. Trust me I get being uncomfortable in a new place."

It took me a second after thanking him to collect myself and get ready to talk. I was kind of in shock. These people had all been able to read me at a glance, knowing exactly what I was feeling and saying exactly what they felt I needed to hear. For someone who spent the last few months immersed in a court of vampires known for their mind games, where your poker face was basically a measuring stick for how long you would live it was a sobering and kind of scary thing.

I gave them all a smile "Thank you, I appreciate the welcome, I don't know how much Ruby mentioned to you but I'm not really from around here, a lot of the things in Vale seem pretty strange to me and I'm kind of off balance, its nice to know theres people I can talk to if I need help. As for being strong" I shrugged "Well I guess you could say that, I haven't seen many people in Vale fight so I don't exactly know how I measure up. I was pretty tough back home but I think a place like this will be a whole different ball game."

Pyrrha gave me a beaming smile, and I couldn't help but notice how much it lit up her face "That's a very mature attitude, most of the students who wind up here aren't nearly as level headed about their combat prowess. I look forward to seeing what you can do." I gave her a fake smile as I inwardly cringed. I had enough trouble controlling my Hunger when I was hungover or hungry, trying imagine fighting this beautiful girl, tapping into the wellspring of my power and allowing my demon to take control like that…I had to clamp down hard and fast on my inner monster to keep it from to life at the thought of all the physical contact with this gorgeous, athletic girl.

She must have taken the blood fleeing my face as fear instead of desire because she immediately back-pedaled "Not that you need worry about sparring if it isn't to your liking. I would be interested to see your skill but I would never push someone into something they didn't want to do." The poor girl looked mortified, like she'd just asked me to have sex in a coat room or something (or how I imagined a girl would look asking someone else that. It actually happened fairly often to me.) I could only assume that she took my reaction as a sign of weakness and there was some cultural taboo here about stronger hunters pressuring the weak about sparring. Either that or she was just used to people being too scared to fight her, maybe she had a rep or something.

She seemed desperate to come up with another for a moment and then seized on one she probably thought was safe "So Ruby never mentioned any aunts or uncles. How are you two related?" Of course out of every "safe" boring topic she could pick it would be that one. I glanced at Ruby and she looked like a deer in headlights, apparently my new cousin wasn't big on thinking things through "My mom and Rubys mom were sisters. My mom and I moved when I was just a baby and she passed away a few years ago. I didn't even know about Ruby and the family until I found myself in Vale. Qrow recognized me and introduced himself."

I went with the theory that all the best lies have a kernel of truth. Ruby nodded furiously "Oh yeah, we were really surprised when Uncle Qrow introduced us to Thomas. I never met my Aunt and since my mom died when I was young I never really heard anything about her. Thomas was as big a surprise to me as I was to him. But we're so glad he found us. I don't have much family" she said with a soft, gentle smile "and every new family member is a gift I never thought I'd get."

My heart pretty much melted out of my chest. I swore right then that if anyone ever tried to hurt this little girl I would kill them. This girl who opened her heart and her family to me after knowing me only a day because the mother she'd never known had loved the one I'd barely met. Yang of course ruined the moment by grabbing us both on a crushing hug and cooing "Awww, its so sweet. We wuv our Thomas yes we do." The exasperation and humiliation mixed with quiet happiness was a totally new emotion for me, and I pushed Yang away laughing while Ruby scowled at her sister.

I got up from the table of laughing friends and made my way over the the counter on one end of the room. There were a few chafing dishes behind the cashier and I smiled disarmingly at her. The rabbit eared girl (no joke she had actual rabbit ears. Also regular human ears which honestly seemed like overkill hearing wise but who was I to judge) was pretty cute. I relaxed my hold on my Hunger a bit, not actively trying to push her but just not having to hold back now that I was away from Team RWBY and friends. I was committed to try to be good for my new cousins and their friends, not be a damn monk.

The pretty brown haired girl blushed shyly and held out her hand "Hello, I-I don't recognize you from around school and you seem about the right age to be in my year. Are you one of the transfer students from Haven or Sanctum?" She was clearly affected but judging by her demeanor I'd been right earlier about aura shielding the owner unless I was trying. I wasn't going to go full vamp on her, it always made me feel skeezy turning it up on purpose, like I was psychically roofying the girl. Natural reaction to my regular vibe was one thing, but actively trying wasn't something I did unless I needed to feed badly.

I gave her a charming smile "No I'm actually an apprentice, my name is Thomas Raith my teacher is here for the festival visiting some family and I was looking for someone to show me around town. I hear Vale has some of the most beautiful sights in Remnant, though the guidebooks never mentioned that the loveliest sight in the city was at Beacon. I fear all the other landmarks will be a disappointment after being in the presence of such radiance." I leaned down and brushed a kiss across the back of her knuckles and the girls face turned so red I thought her head was about to explode. Granted I'd laid it on a little thick but she really was very pretty, and I found her shyness charming. A bit of a confidence boost would be good for her.

One of her ears actually curled down so she looked like an honest to god bunny rabbit "I-I'm Velvet. Velvet Scarletina. I-If you're looking for a tour of town, I-I might be able to show you around. I'm busy with training tonight but tomorrow night I'm free. Maybe we could go for a walk or something in Heirloom Park. Some of the monuments there are very beautiful, and its" her face flushed even deeper "not too busy this time of year, so it's a good place to get to know each other."

I smiled at her warmly. It had been a long time since I'd been on an actual date that I wasn't sure was going to end in sex, that wasn't me being a pig it was just my nature. I found myself eager to try out my newfound normalcy by taking a walk in the park with a pretty girl. I was probably the first man in history to be giddy at the prospect of not getting laid. "That sounds lovely. I look forward to it. So as I mentioned I'm new here" I said scratching the back of my head wryly "I'm not sure whats any good, what would you recommend?"

Velvet gave an embarrassed smile, presumably at being so distracted "Right sorry, I'm a big fan of the vegetarian wrap. Though I know a lot of people enjoy the beef stroganoff. My personal favorite is the carrot cake we have on Wednesdays" she blushed a bit at that "I know it's a bit of a stereotype but carrot cake is one of my favorite foods. I'm not too big a fan of raw carrots though so maybe not a stereotype after all." She gave a wry little chuckle.

I grinned at her "Fair enough, I actually make a pretty mean carrot cake myself. Maybe sometime I can bake one for us to share. In the meantime the stroganoff does sound pretty good, I think I'll try that." She blushed again prettily and gave me another shy smile. I think she was about to mention my offer of dessert when I heard a throat clear behind us.

I turned to find another girl, her eyebrow raised imperiously over a pair of sunglasses. Her lopsided brown beret gave her a very bohemian kind of look and I got the impression she wasn't pleased with me talking to Velvet. "Gosh Velv, why don't you introduce me to your new friend, you two seem to be getting along well." She slid the glasses down her nose and fixed me with an icy stare "I don't believe we've met. I'm Coco Adel, Velvets team leader."

The way the girl mentioned being a leader it was clear she felt like she needed to look out for Velvet. I gave her a sincere smile "Hi there, Thomas Raith, Velvet was just filling me in on whats good to eat here. I'm new in town and I'm afraid I don't know the menu yet. Velvet was telling me how good the Stroganoff was so I figured I'd give it a shot. Do you have any recommendations?"

Coco gave me a suspicious glare "I like the taquitos. The hot sauce they use with them has a great flavor. In any case sounds like you're almost done here. Velvet I know you get off shift fifteen before lunch is over so you have time to eat with us, finish up here and I'll see you back at the table." She gave me one last icy stare and left.

Velvet sighed and passed me a bowl of stroganoff "Sorry about that, its on the house for the inconvenience, she means well but she can be a bit protective." Apparently mortification had cured her shyness because she seemed much less nervous. "Thanks for not mentioning our date, she'd have probably waterboarded you for details on your intentions. She's positive that every guy who isn't a total racist is trying to get in my panties."

I gave her a smirk "Well how are you so sure I wont try to get in your panties?" I expected her to blush or stutter but apparently having her crazy big sister figure glare me down was worst case scenario for her. She seemed like a completely different person now that she'd found her footing. She took off her apron and came around the counter to give me a peck on the cheek.

"Because" she whispered in my ear "I'm not going to be wearing any." and she leaned up and nipped my earlobe before skipping away humming sunnily to herself. I just stood there. Stunned. Because for the first time in probably years, damned if I wasn't the one blushing.

I ate quickly when I got back to the table, while the others chattered on. Velvet had been right about the Stroganoff it really was delicious. I was anxious to finish up and apparently at least on person noticed "You seem to be in a bit of a hurry? I hope we didn't drive you off, I know sometimes we can be a bit out there, but we all mean well." Ren gave me a reassuring smile.

I returned the gesture "Hardly, just anxious to find Uncle Qrow and get started training. I'm pretty curious as to what I can do with proper instruction. My father never really bothered with self defense training, my big sister gave me some martial arts lessons growing up and taught me how to shoot, but she only started taking my training seriously around my nineteenth birthday. I'm nervous I'm not around your level." Ren smiled and nodded as I finished up my food "Anyway I'll see you guys around later ok?"

I gave Ruby a peck on the head and Yang a one armed hug and waved to the others who all said their goodbyes and then made my way to the door. As I left I noticed Blake staring at me. I'd caught her gaze when I'd gotten back from the counter and thought her intense stare was disgust because I' been flirting so shamelessly with Velvet, but as I met her eyes and she said her goodbyes, she gave me a quiet smile and a nod. Apparently flirting with the girl had made some kind of impression on her. Sex vampire I may be, but I would never understand women.

 **Ok guys this chapter was planned for several times this length but im pretty happy with the pacing and content so I don't want to push it. I think this is one of my better chapters and I'm really happy with it, next chapter is some training with Qrow and we get to see Thomas mix it up. A few things I figure people would want explained. Firstly was Blakes reaction during Thomas story. The mention of a human with an animal inside being an evil monster made her angry, remember she doesn't know he's not from Remnant so she assumed it was a metaphor for the faunus, the end of the story disabused her of this notion and the way he flirted with Velvet without caring she was faunus made Blake think better of him. They're not best buddies now but it helped the relationship a lot. Second is the radical shift in Velvet. She isn't a schizophrenic, but she is a huntress. Velvet can be a bit shy because of the teasing she gets and peoples reaction to the faunus, but Thomas had already proved he didn't really care about her being faunus and knowing Coco and her team were there gave her more confidence. Anyway next chapter we have some fighting and Thomas hits da club. Not to mention I'm planning for him to get his weapons. Reviews help me breathe and give me inner strength, King out.**


	6. Fire and Wonder

After we left I expected to head to some kind of training ground but to my shock Qrow and I headed for the docks we'de come in through. The halls were emptying again and we got a lot less attention than we had before. As we boarded the ship to Vale I gave Qrow a questioning look.

My friend just took a swig of his flask (what, was it bottomless?) and gave me a grin "Sorry kid, we can't get to combat training just yet. Every hunter at Beacon has a custom weapon. They teach you how to make them at the lower level hunter schools. Since you didn't attend one we need to get you setup with a weapon, I take it you don't have any experience with a forge?"

I shook my head. "No, nothing like that, what kind of weapons do hunters usually use?" I had some experience with guns and Lara had trained me a bit with a blade, white court as a rule usually excelled at physical combat being nearly immortal but I was pretty new to the life so I hadn't done too much of the harder training. I had a lot of experience with basic hand to hand from before I'd known what I was but I wasn't too confident with my vampire strength and speed.

Qrow just shrugged "Most hunters make a custom weapon that suits them. The usual combo is something bladed for close quarters with a built in firearm for long range, hunters have to be able to fight at all distances. We'll need to figure out where your talents lie, have you test a few weapons out and such. But a friend put me in touch with a guy in town who can make you a brilliant weapon. First things first though, I need to know exactly how your power works. I know you don't want to talk about it so I've been avoiding it, but I need to know the source of your strength."

I grimaced. I'd been avoiding directly addressing my origins for a while, Qrow had a solid idea that I wasn't exactly vanilla human, somehow he was able to identify my human half as being related to my mother based on the way my aura looked so I was willing to bet his eyes had told him more than he let on, so I wasn't revealing anything he probably didn't know. Besides I owed Qrow and the girls so much, telling them what I was would just be showing them the same trust they had already shown me.

I looked him in the eye "Well, I….I'm not completely human. My power comes from a demon that takes up half of my soul. We call it The Hunger. I feed it the life force of others through sex. I imagine between what Ozpin seemed to know without asking and what you saw you already had a pretty good idea what you were dealing with but I understand if hearing the truth makes you not want anything to do with me."

Qrow looked at me seriously then snorted and took a swig "Don't be such a drama queen. We had puzzled out what you were basically. We do have myths here about incubi, and we don't care. I don't care. If you don't kill people or hurt innocents its nothing we cant deal with. I just needed to hear it from you. Now, lets go get your weapon" he said as the ship docked, I was surprised to find the ride already over "I think youre gonna like this place."

I expected there to be more to it, for him to question me or ask more but that seemed to really be the end of it for him. We walked in silence, me following along behind my friend waiting for him to say something, and then after a while of the quiet just enjoying the view as I glanced around us.

The streets were more crowded than they had been this morning. The Vytal Festival Ruby had mentioned was in full swing and the crowds seemed to buzz with energy. I expected us to head into one of the bustling shops or too a booth but Qrow didn't even slow down for the attractions, we walked past the busy festival and the hubbub. We walked and we walked and the cheerful street turned into a run down lane full of tenements. We turned a corner and found ourselves standing in a cobblestone square. The fountain in the middle was cracked and dripping, the cobblestones around it were covered in dark green moss and the buildings lining the square appeared in nearly as bad a shape.

One end of the square overlooked another cobblestone street, the dropoff framed by two buildings and fenced off with a rusted and broken down looking wrought iron gate. Qrow saw me taking in everything around us and grinned "Welcome to Broken Jester, the oldest neighborhood in Vale. That fountain used to be the center of the entire city, now its just a busted ass reminder of what happens when things outlive their usefulness. At least to some people, to the rest of us, this neighborhood still means something. Most of the business people around these parts bailed a long time ago, but the man we're here to see still calls this place home."

He walked purposefully over to the fountain and hopped up on the low stone wall around it. Leaning forward he reached up to the crown on top of the Queen chess piece that topped the stone and gave it a series of twists. Three to the right, four to the left, two back to the right, and then he pushed it down. He shot me a grin as a loud grinding sound filled the square and the water started to drain from the base of the fountain. The cracks the water drained from widened as sections of the fountain slowly dropped into the darkness, each one a bit closer the surface until the last one slid up an inch to give a perfect first step down onto the stone staircase from Qrows spot.

My friend winked and stepped down onto the staircase walking confidently down the stone slabs "This, Thomas is quite a treat for you, even if you don't know it. It's not every day someone your age gets to meet with Ogden Shale." He said the name with a lot of weight, like I should know who it was, but I just raised an eyebrow, urging him to continue. "Ogden is the oldest smith on Remnant. He's a living legend. Aura when possessed in decent quantity can slow the aging process, your average hunter lives about two hundred years, the above average ones can live twice that, and really powerful hunters have been known to live as long as a millennia. There's stories of hunters who have such huge reserves they're functionally immortal, with a healing factor so intense aging doesn't even affect them, but I've never seen one."

He grinned at me "Ogden however is definitely in the third category, last I heard he was over eight hundred and fifty years old and looks about sixty, and a graceful sixty at that. The old man was the smith that made all the famous weapons of the great war, The Faunus Kings Ars Notoria, Valentin Arcs Crocea Mors, hell people even say he made Sandolphon for the Queen of hearts." At my blank look he rolled his eyes "Ogden makes scary weapons for scary people, he's been doing it for centuries and hes the best. He owes me a favor and I'm calling it in for you."

My eyes widened at that "Wait, if this guy is so badass why don't you have him make you a weapon? Unless he already did? In which case why not have him make something for Ruby? Or Yang?" I understood wanting to help me but Qrow was making this out to be a huge deal. From what I knew of me fr-uncle (had to get used to calling him that even in my head) he wasn't one to make a big deal of things, so if he was going on about this it must be huge, and dear god there were so many stairs. I wished that I could find the guy who invented stairs and push him down these stairs, and then his wife would leave him for the guy who invented the elevator.

Qrow shook his head "Nah, I built my own weapon and so did Ruby, I cant have Ogden make her weapon or one for me for a simple reason. Ogden doesn't make Mecha-shift weaponry. He can make you a sword or a spear or a gun, but Ogden doesn't believe in shape changing weapons. Granted his weapons are so amazing they don't generally need to transform but my style, the one I trained Ruby in is strong because of versatility, Ogdens weapons wont work for us. You on the other hand grew up in a world where weapons are one thing or another. You'll need an edge here and we don't really have time to train you from the ground up."

A gave a nod to accede the point. We finally came to the bottom of the stairs and stopped in front of a door. The wood was stout but old and the boards were strapped together snugly with two strips of iron. In place of a handle was a simple iron plate, which Qrow struck with the butt of his sword. After a minute the door opened to show an affable man who looked about sixty, whith salt and pepper hair and big bright smile. "Well well well, if it isn't little Qrow and with a young one of his own in tow, this your boy Qrow?"

Qrow shook his head "No sir, this would be Maggies son." At my sharp glance he gave me a gentle smile "Ogden has been here for a long time, when I was in school I used to come and watch him at the forge to get ideas for my own weapons. I bought Maggie and Oz here a time or two. The old headmaster, Tiberius Rust, was a friend of Ogdens so I even managed to get out of class some days to come down here." He gave the old man a fond smile.

Ogden barked a laugh "The only thing that annoyed me more than this little punk invading my forge was when he brought friends, though I admit little Wendell really impressed me. Not often you see hunters with that kind of raw talent. Your mother boy, she was one of the more interesting people I've met. When you spend over eight and a half centuries on this planet you meet all kinds but Wendell Ozpin and Margaret Mccoy were the type to make an impression."

It took almost every ounce of my self control not to burst out laughing when I heard that Ozpins first name was Wendell, self control Qrow didn't share because he started snickering as soon as Ogden said it. The old man gave him a glare but Qrow gave him the kind of unrepentant grin boys have been giving male authority figures since the dawn of time and the old man rolled his eyes in the age old response those boys always get. I could tell that he really cared about my uncle.

Finally he turned to me with a grin "So if you're here I'm guessing it isn't to visit. You're here for the weapon I promised Qrow all those years ago I take it, that layabout never visits so I cant think of another reason you'de be here." He swung the door wide, showing a carved stone chamber lit cherry red by the light of a forge. "Well come in then boy, its been too many years since a weapon of my creation has left a mark on the world. I think its time for the name of one of my creations to be carved into the world again. Come inside so I can cast your destiny in steel."

 **Wow that was a hard one to write guys. Seriously im begging for reviews at this point, its so much harder to write without them. This chapter went in a different direction than I expected, I'm no longer going to attempt to predict what next chapter will bring since ive been changing them so much from what was intended. Next chapter I hope will be Qrows meeting with Winter but I'm not sure. Also expect every name mentioned to be explained later and every character of importance to be expounded on, I'm planning a pretty deep backstory for this fic so theres going to be a lot of history.**


	7. Early One Morning

The time we spent at Ogdens was both longer and shorter than I had anticipated. I could tell from the suns position as we left the run down square we had been down there for hours at least but damned if it had felt like it. The old man had asked me a series of odd and occasionally seemingly inane questions then taken some measurements. After about twenty minutes leafing through some books and murmuring to himself he'd given a sharp nod and set to work on my new weapons.

I'd asked Qrow as we waited when I was going to pick my weapon and he just shook his head "When Odgen gets like this theres no placing an order. I've only seen him do it once, I think it must be a semblance or something, or just the sensibilities of a genius. In either case the forge is working through him now, he isn't hearing a word we say. One thing is for sure though. When I asked him about it last time he told me this is when he forges his best weapons. Whatever he makes you is going to be amazing."

Watching the old smith work had been…well mind-blowing really. The speed and surety were awe-inspiring. The ring of the steel with each beat of the hammed followed so closely on the heels of the last that the shifting chimes wove together into something like a song. My eyes lost focus as I listened to that winding tune, floating away on the ballads tales of heroism and adventure and battle. I could almost feel the thrum inside me, the chimes of the hammer resonating my soul with the same shuddering crash they sent whispering through the steel.

Finally after what seemed like a few minutes the old man finished quenching the steel and fitting the grips and with his back still to me slid the weapons he'd crafted for me into a leather case. He passed me the sealed case with solemnity and gave a nod, and without another word strode through a door I hadn't seen in the back of the forge. I gave Qrow a puzzled glance and he shrugged "Things like this take a lot out of him. Last time he passed out right after and was out for a few days. I wasn't expecting him to be chatty. We can swing by and thank him in a few days if you want, for now lets give him his space."

The walk away from the place seemed somehow less hurried. We had accomplished a step, a big one, I had weapons now and I couldn't wait to try them out. Things seemed to be lining up my way. I was focused on how good it felt to be moving forward and how nice the city was as we got into the better areas when Qrow came to an abrupt stop.

He seemed frozen solid for a minute. He was staring hard at a small group of what looked like white armored robots following a very pretty girl with shiny silver hair in a bun. The look on my Uncles face was…complicated. A mixture of disgust and glee and dare I say it genuine happiness. It was the look I imagine little boys get on the playground when they see the girl they think is pretty and decide to walk over and yank her pigtails. There seemed to be some genuine fondness in the expression too, buried deep down under it all. A slow malicious grin spread over his face and he started walking quickly towards the girl.

As he reached the robot closest us he grabbed the back of it then ripped its head clean off and lobbed it underhand toward the girl "Hey." The girl froze, turning to glare at my friend "Yeah, I'm talking to you, Ice Queen." I saw her expression flare up with anger and possibly in the back of her eyes just a bit of excitement. The two robot thugs beside her raised their weapons, aiming them at us, and suddenly reminding me that Qrow wasn't the only person standing here.

My eyes widened for a second before the girl snapped "Halt" bringing both androids to an instant freeze. If possible aforementioned eyes widened even more when Rubys pretty white haired teammate came marching determinedly toward us, glaring right at Qrow with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns.

The haughty look on her face was almost comical as she snapped out "Do you have any idea who you're talking to?" I could tell she wasn't used to having things inconvenience her. Qrow put a hand on her head and shoved her aside, ignoring her yelp of "Hey!" With a slurred shush he moved past her, funny that he hadn't seemed nearly so drunk just seconds ago when we were walking. I mean sure he smelled like a brewery but I got the feeling that Qrow rarely stopped drinking. Besides the fact that lagging behind on his imbibing might get some blood in his alcohol stream I suspected after being mostly buzzed or drunk for as long as he obviously had the cumulative hangover might literally kill him.

He gave a dismissive snort as he shoved her to the side "Not you" focusing all his attention on the gorgeous silver haired girl in front of us "You" the focus and bloodlust in his voice was staggering, I'd never seen Qrow pay this much attention to anything in the few days I'd known him. Even his darling Ruby didn't get this much obvious focus. Not without some of Qrows patented grudging 'who cares, not me' showmanship. In the short time I'd known Qrow he hadn't shown himself to be the type to care much about other people who weren't in his orbit. He certainly hadn't shown this much emotion since talking about Summer and my mother.

The naked glee and malice on his face wasn't the kind you had for someone unless you had strong feelings one way or the other. Qrow either loved this girl or loved to hate her. If it was the latter then she was probably something of an arch-rival or something, you didn't get this excited to see random enemies. "I saw that gaudy ship of yours in town. Guess you're here too." They traded a few more barbs and the girl just lunged at Qrow.

The fight that followed was…scary. I was going to be training with Qrow, sparring with him, and this display did not put me at ease. At first glance they looked nearly even, but Qrow dodged every blow and didn't draw his weapon until after using it to block her strike while it was still on his back. He was handling her, playing a game, and I doubted she even knew it. The eager smile on Qrows face was echoed on hers, she was having fun doing this too.

When the commanding older guy stopped the fight they both looked a bit put out, though the look quickly morphed to chagrin when he started in on the girl. Qrow gave me a look and shrugged "Hey kid, I gotta go handle this, stick with Ruby and Weiss for a bit?" I could tell this was some sort of business he didn't need me for so I returned the shrug and wandered over to my cousin and her friend.

Rubys hug verged on assault as she leapt on me, crushing the air from my lungs "That was AMAZING! Wasn't it Thomas? Wasn't it amazing? You're gonna learn how to do that too, I mean I apprenticed under Uncle Qrow for a while but just kid stuff to help me get ready for Signal, you're gonna be learning all of that, Im so jealous!" The little brunette was bouncing so fast I thought she was going to vibrate through the bridge.

Weiss was glaring at the retreating form of Qrow and the General walking away with her sister before turning her withering stare on us "Not that that fight was finished, Winter was about to crush your uncle when General Ironwood stepped in. Another second and it would've been over." I wisely decided not to mention the Qrow had disarmed because he was clearly so much stronger than Winter he knew exactly when that strike would land and knew the General would stop it. The whole thing had been a giant game to him, albeit one he enjoyed immensely.

I threw and arm around Rubys should (the one she had just been clinging to) "Alright, well looks like its time for us to hit the town, any good places to go?" I was assuming my adorable little cousin wasn't a bar hopper, and Weiss seemed more of an Opera girl than a club bunny (speaking of I had my date with Velvet tomorrow to look forward to) so I resigned myself to ending up at a weapons shop or a country club.

"So Ruby, where exactly are we headed? Apparently you're my chauffer so I'm in your hands. Whats there to do in the big city?" It seemed like a good idea to reinforce the small town boy impression I'd given so as not to arouse suspicion when I acted surprise at their….flying pigs or whatever they had here.

She started bouncing even faster (tiny sonic booms were going to start any second) "I know the best place! Theres an arcade down the street I go to when im in town, they have all the best games! I can show you my shooting skills and they have whack-a-grimm! I have the high score on that one, its all about reflex you know!" I was so shocked by her ability to speak for nearly a minute straight without breathing I didn't even fight as she grabbed Weiss and I each by the arm (poor Weiss looked almost as scared as me) and dragged us down the short street and into the old brick building.

Weiss's eyes were like moons in her face, taking in the flashing lights and games. Apparently the Ice Queen of team RWBY hadn't ever seen anything like it. Her mouth fell open with childlike wonder "Theres… theres so many lights and sounds! Look at all the different games and machines! And the smell! What is that delightful smell?" The awe on her face was…quite simply… adorable. I half expected her to squeal.

Ruby seemed almost as excited about Weiss's reaction as she did the games themselves "I know! Isnt it amazing? I love it here! That smell is funnel cake! Its amazing right!?" The silver haired girls eyes scoured the entire room drinking it all in. For my part I agreed about the funnel cake and zeroed in on it.

"Hey Rubes im gonna go grab some funnel cake, you want any? Weiss how about you? Its got powdered sugar on it?" Ruby crowed her approval. Weiss for her part tried to look disinterested and gave a vague shrug, trying to look like she wasn't drooling at the thought of the treat.

I broke off from the group and headed over to where the food was, reaching for the lien cards Qrow had given me after we left Ogdens. The guy at the food cart looked bored and disinterested, as teenagers who work at food carts inevitably do "Hey man, can I get three funnel cakes?" As the guy turned to pass the food I noticed a pretty girl standing by the cart staring intently at the ice cream. The odd part of this was that between her hair and eyes, she was colored a lot like neopolitan ice cream herself. I gave a nod of my head as I came to a decision "And a double scoop of neopolitan ice cream for the pretty lady." Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head as she swung to look at me with a confused frown.

I stuck out my hand "Thomas Raith, sorry if I overstepped you just looked hungry so I thought I'd help." The girl gave me a small smile and a nod and shook my hand. She released me hand and touched her lips before shaking her head, opening her mouth and failing to speak, making it clear she couldn't talk. "Oh, wow you're mute I'm sorry." She gave a shrug as if to say 'C'est la vie' and pulled out one of those scroll things. She typed a quick thank you and introduced herself as Neo.

"A unique name for a unique lady. Is the double scoop going to be enough?" She gave a serious frown as if to consider it before making a grudging nod. I laughed at that "An honest woman, I like that. Well I'm here with my cousin and her friend so I better go. It was nice meeting you." She frowned and then typed again on the scroll _I'd like to buy you a drink or something later to say thank you. Come by my friends club some time if you're free?_ I gave her a grin "Well of course I wont say no to drinks with a beautiful lady. Wheres the club, and is tonight ok?"

After a roll of her eyes and flicking the address from her scroll to mine which she had me get out, she made her goodbyes, telling me tonight was fine. I smiled a bit as I walked back to my cousin, two dates in two nights. Remnant was turning out to be a lot of fun.

 **Hey guys. Wow this was a really hard chapter for me. Had to muddle through it but it didn't come out how I wanted, luckily it set the stage for some things I wanted to do so hopefully next chapter will be out faster. That said reviews feed my creative spark guys. Anything at all, even a "cant wait for the next one." Would be appreciated, only takes a minute. Also if youre feeling extra generous my just went live at that site /kingofclubs8129. If you guys have a chance to check it out I'd appreciate it if not no big deal, just enjoy the chapter and ill catch you next time.**


	8. Lies my Parents Told Me

We had plenty of fun at the arcade, even Weiss was smiling quietly as she demolished Ruby at air hockey. Ruby for her part was almost shining with happiness, I almost expected her to vibrate through the floor. I got the impression she and Yang had been the only ones her age in the family and having a new cousin to spend time with was a dream come true for her.

For my part I couldn't stop smiling either. With how my family was and my nature it'd been a while since I'd had some innocent fun with family. My baby sister Inari was only about three and she was the closest to me in age, all my other sisters were adults, and even if they wanted to just have some fun and play games (which none of them ever did, though bless Lara she tried to take me to the arcade a few times as a child) the constant sexual attention kind of ruined it.

But my hunger wasn't as prominent to Ruby and Weiss who had active auras, and the few moms without that were looking me over in the arcade were more concerned with their kids (though one enthusiastic babysitter looked like she was waiting for me to go to the bathroom so she could corner me) so we just had some real fun. Innocent.

It was definitely good for my soul. Ruby kept up a constant stream of chatter, telling me all about her dog Zwei and her friends at signal and how Yang was a massive bathroom hog, not just time wise but space as well (the number of hair care products she used to tease it every morning could apparently style a small Yeti commune). After about twenty minutes Weiss started dropping little snippets of conversation in without realizing she was doing it.

I heard about how she idolized her sister Winter for getting out of the house, and loved her Butler dearly. Heard about how her mother drank herself into a stupor every day to escape her fathers frigid disregard, while her little brother Whitley plotted and schemed to get his attention. The Schnee manor sounded like a very cold place, and I felt a sense of kinship with the standoffish girl.

Before I knew it I was sharing too, telling them (a whitewashed version of course) about my father and my sisters, how my mother was the only person besides Lara who ever made me feel loved. I told them about my brothers all being kicked out of the house (read suspiciously killed in supposed accidents) and how my father was controlling and manipulative, I obviously edited out all the weird sexual stuff for impressionable ears but it was still really nice to share with people, especially Weiss who seemed to understand how I felt.

Ruby lapsed into silence sensing us bonding and listened as we traded some of the lighter horror stories of our childhoods. She told me about the time her father gave her puppy to the daughter of a visiting business associate to curry favor and sent her to her room without dinner when six year old Weiss started to cry. I shared about the time my father forgot to send a car for me after school when Lara was out of town and she came home to find me in bed with pneumonia from sitting in the snow for six hours.

Weiss was easy to talk to, and I could tell Ruby was ecstatic that we were bonding despite her obvious sadness and discomfort at our subject. I decided to change the topic after about a half hour because Ruby looked about ready to burst into tears "So Rubes, we've been telling all these stories but theyre a huge bummer, do you have any stories from when you were a kid that would lighten the mood?" Weiss looked surprised as she noticed Rubys unshed tears and shot me a guilty glance, I understood, when things were as cold as they had been for us being able to laugh at the bad stuff is a prerequisite for sanity, but it was easy to forget how these kinds of things sounded to other people.

Ruby sniffed unobtrusively to choke down the impending sobs "Well, when I was little Yang used to carry me up to hill behind our house to pick blackberries. The thorns were really sharp so she never let me pick them myself. She used to get all scratched up getting a whole bunch of berries and then we would sit on a blanket in the field near the bushes and eat them all before we went home. She always gave me the best ones." The sadness was washed away by a sweet smile.

Weiss gave me a similar smile before speaking up herself "My sister Winter would take me ice skating when I was a girl. Every time she was home on leave we would go down to park behind the manor and she would use her semblance to make use a plane of smooth ice on a pond we owned. The first year she took me I was too afraid to step onto the ice, she used her glyphs to make a pair of ice sculptures of the two of us, and she held my hand while they skated across the pond. By the time she pulled me out onto the ice I wasn't afraid at all, because my big sister had me, and she wouldn't let me fall. I'd already seen us do it so I wasn't scared to try."

Her voice had a misty smile in it, the memory was clearly a cherished one. Ruby was beaming at her. I figured it was my turn, and while I didn't have a lot of happy childhood memories I had a few, and big sisters were a subject I knew well. "When I was little and my mom was around, my birthday was a special day. I never got in trouble for anything and I was allowed to do whatever I wanted. My sisters would all get me presents and my mom even made my dad spend the day with us, it was the only time he really acknowledged my presence, even if he wasn't warm."

I smiled sadly at the memory, powering on to the happy part "The first birthday without my mom I was inconsolable. I stayed in my room and wouldn't eat. My dad didn't care of course, and most of my sisters weren't much more than similar strangers to me, but Lara wouldn't allow it. She burst into my room and threw an outfit at me and told me to get dressed. My elegant, sophisticated sister put on a jeans and t-shirt, probably the only time in my life mind you, and took me straight down to her car. We went to the amusement park and the movies and to get pizza. We had ice cream and donuts and played laser tag. To this day I've never had a better birthday."

Ruby was looking at me with a sad smile, one Weiss mirrored. I gave my own suspicious sniff and gave them both a cheesy grin "So I guess my point is thank god for big sisters. Because they always take care of us when we need them." I threw my arm around the two girls and smiled at them "Now what say we head back to the room, its getting late and I have a date tonight." The eye rolling and disgusted snorts felt pretty good.

After dropping the two of them off I slipped back to my own room. I immediately cursed myself for an idiot upon reaching my new digs, realizing that my plan to grab a change of clothes would be stymied by the fact that I didn't actually have any clothes to change into. I'd been so damned distracted since I'd gotten here that I hadn't even noticed I'd been wearing the same clothes for three days now. I was going to have to go buy some new ones, after I took a shower and cleaned off some of the grime. Or maybe I could borrow some from Qrow.

With that in mind I decided to let it go and just slip into the shower. The bathroom was gorgeous with a hard wood floor and some strips of comfortable carpet along the edge of the shower and the sides of the bath which was set into a raised platform. A mirror took up the entirety of the back wall and frosted glass door on the stall shower had a metal vent at the top that could be opened or closed to capture steam for a sauna effect.

I set the water to boiling hot and stripped off my clothes mechanically settling under the scalding stream and letting the torrent pound some of the knots from my back. The pressure was fantastic and I let the driving water help my mind drift as my hair was plastered to my aching scalp. God I was so exhausted. Not really physically, it was only about noon, but mentally. I'd had so much happen in such a short time, my last few days were some of the longest in my memory.

After about fifteen minutes of the tension draining from my body I climbed out of the shower. The bathroom had apparently been cleaned while I'd been out and fresh towels were stacked on the counter. I cleaned myself off and checked the closet. Asking Qrow for clothes wouldn't be necessary, apparently someone had thought ahead better than I did and stocked it with clothes. I prowled through all the options for a while before settling on a black leather jacket, black jeans and a sleeveless shirt.

I stared at myself in the mirror. I felt so different but I looked the same as always. Which I guess I knew intellectually, it having only been two days but still, it was strange to feel so different and look exactly the same. I was getting a bit of five o clock shadow (though there was a small gap between the mustache and beard on both sides, I'd never been able to grow a full beard) but other than that I was just…so achingly unchanged.

There was a pair of scissors lying on the counter nearby and I snatched them up and started cutting my shoulder length hair. Frantic at first to look as different on the outside as I felt in my soul, but as I went I slowed down, taking more time to cut it like the stylists Lara had taken me to as a boy. I evened out the strands and after about ten minutes dropped the scissors to the counter, staring at myself.

I smiled at the stranger looking back. Not Thomas of House Raith of the white court but Thomas Raith, nephew and apprentice of Qrow Branwen, cousin of Ruby and Yang, son of Maggie LeFay and ward of Beacon Academy. I admired my handiwork before strolling out to make my way to the club, slipping my new weapons from their case and fastening them on like Ogden had shown me. Maybe if this hunter thing didn't work out I could be a hair stylist. I looked good.

 **Hey all, was planning to go to the Club scene I had planned from here but this was too good an end point to pass up. This weeks episode was a lot of fun for those of you who haven't seen it yet I wont spoil but the end got me super pumped. Next chapter is for sure going to be the club scene since I set it all up in this one, Thomas is going to see Neo for sure and I wont promise on anything else, I've long since given up on foreshadowing since whenever I hit a wall I just completely rewrite from another another angle. I'd like to thank my readers for the hundreds of views every new chapter and beseech you once again to please for the love of god review, doesn't even need to be long, literally a one sentence "great chapter cant wait to see more" or even "your writing is pig swill" would mean the world to me. I try to review every chapter of anyone elses work I read so if you're a fellow author whose work I read please pay it forward. Well my shameless groveling is now done, see you next chapter, or I have another fic, Dragons Game, you might enjoy if you need something to read till then, warning it's a bit more adult than this one.**


	9. Interlude: Monster

Thirteen Years Ago

She's running away. She doesn't have a choice. She can feel her will slipping, feel herself being consumed. Raith thinks it is him, that he was finally breaking her will. What a fool. His ministrations amuse her, he feels good, and fills the hole in her body, even as the one in her heart grows wider. He wasn't who she wanted. His dark hair mocks her, the onyx sheen so the reverse of that Christmas tree tinsel silver she longs to touch again. His cold hard eyes a frozen parody of the kind orbs that sat behind those ridiculous spectacles.

Thomas is six. She loves him more every day, but knows it won't be enough. She's run already, she left for a year, spent it with someone else, thought maybe warmth and love would hold it back, that family would be halt the cracks she'd been feeling in her heart, spiderwebbing out from the black spot that had wormed its way in that horrible night in Remnant. Malcolm was a good man, a kind man, he didn't deserve to be a placeholder, and so she left him, her gentle magician, with their new baby, and went back to the monster that fathered her first born son.

If love wouldn't work, she reasoned, nothing will. She didn't want to spend her last few months hating herself for using that gentle man. She wants to spend them with the son who was old enough to remember. To give her boy a few more months of happy memories with the mother who is going to leave him. But even he isn't enough anymore, and she can feel the shadows creeping through the cracks like tar, staining her a bit more every time they recede.

Thank god for Lara. The woman is a constant comfort. Lara loves her family fiercely, and she knows the vampire will care for her son, even if she cant. She would give anything to stay, but she wouldn't be able to give him what he needed, she can barely force herself to smile at him now.

By the time she reaches the deeper parts of the Nevernever and realizes where shes heading she's too far gone to care enough to stop. She's nearly gone by then, the tar hardening, congealing the shards of her frozen, shattered heart into a grotesque mosaic. A twisted stained glass sacrilege of who she used to be. Of the girl he loved. She doesn't dare allow herself to think his name, lest it disturb the masterpiece of fragile nothing piecing together her empty soul.

She knows she won't see him, not for a long time. She'll be close enough, but she has things to make ready when she arrives back in Remnant. Besides, she doubts he will be pleased with this new her. There is so much to do and so little time to prepare it in. She believes, in the depths of that twisted construction of hate and sorrow and glee in her chest, that he will understand someday.

She thinks of all the others. Of how they can all be together again when she sets it all right. Of how happy they'll all be, and her snow white cheeks pull her bloodless mouth up into a smile. By the time she enters Remnant, Margaret Mccoy Dresden is dead. But Salem has such big plans for them all. And she knows they'll thank her when it's over.


	10. Rescue Me From the Dance Floor

The club Neo had invited me to wasn't really anything special. I'd been to plenty of these party spots in my life, hell my family owned more than a few, and I wasn't exactly impressed with the places inherent style. The doors were guarded, big thugs in black suits and red ties, wearing (ugh) fedoras. I gave them the password Neo had sent me with the directions and Thug one gave a subvocal grunt, while Thug two glared over the rim of his incredibly lame shades and chucked his chin through the door and into the busy club.

The entire place was, not surprisingly, a riot of color and sound. One thing I'd noticed about Remnant was that aside from all the color related names people also dressed much more expressively and flamboyantly here. Hell, if anything my conservative white shirt and black jeans and jacket set me more apart from all these colorful club kiddies than the craziest get-up I could've managed short of painting myself purple and counting in an accent.

I felt a tug on my sleeve and drew my gaze away from the clusterfuck on the dance floor to pretty little Neo, she was wearing a nice dress and had plaited her multicolored hair over one shoulder. I tried to tell her how nice she looked but my words were swallowed instantly into the roaring tumult of music and shouting. She mustve read my lips though because she gave me a peck on the cheek and a smile and dragged me over toward some stairs over by the back of the club.

After a ridiculously long ten minutes (we had to dance between other couples and even then had trouble getting through) we emerged onto the cramped staircase. Neo pulled me under a red velvet rope clearly meant to cordon off part of the club people weren't supposed to be in and tugged me up the steps. As we climbed up the staircase the noise from the floor faded and eventually cut out when we closed the thick wooden door at the top of the steps.

When we finally stopped I took a minute to finally look around and take in where I was. My surroundings were lavish, much nicer than the club downstairs had been, red velvet sofas on plush black carpet. The thick windows looked out over the club and were framed by thick black velvet curtains tied up to the sides with black rope. The back of the room had a pitch black bar lined with black leather stools seated on chrome stems, a ring halfway down the base for patrons to rest their feet on when they sat.

Behind the bar was a large set of black wooden shelves, filled to the bursting with bottles of every size and shape and color, some transparent and showing strange shifting liquids, flickering with ethereal lights. Neo dragged me to the bar and pointed at a stool before slipping into the empty service area.

The whole place was completely empty and deathly silent and Neos pale features should've been surreal and unnerving in the red light shining down from the bottom of each shelf onto the liquor below, but really it was just…nice. The silence wasn't suffocating or invasive it was pleasant and comfortable, like the fact that Neo couldn't speak somehow stole the sound from the room, like this was her place and noise wasn't as needed here as it was in the outside world.

Neo smiled at me and gestured to the shelves, raising an eyebrow in question, and I could tell she wanted me to pick my poison. I smiled at her and shrugged "Surprise me." Even my slight whisper cracked the still air like a whip. The silence shattered and I felt the comfortable stillness become shards of connection, opening hot lines of intimacy across my skin, flooding me with heat and exposing my nerves to the cold air. Whispering hadn't preserved the détente we'de been enjoying with sound, if anything its attempt at quiet made it absurd in its mockery of the silence we'de been sitting in.

Neo seemed to feel the uncomfortable nearness and heat my actions caused too, because she nodded and flushed retreating to the shelves to mix our drinks. I honestly think we would've both been more comfortable had I shouted me answer at her.

She mixed a few things from the bottles and came back with two glasses of a swirling concoction of purple and silver. The purple liquid was dark and wouldn't mix with the shining silver broth so the swirls almost seemed to shift like a galaxy on fast forward, vanishing into each other even as new spirals swirled into existence in the glass. I felt my eyes widen and Neo let out an adorable giggle at my reaction, covering her mouth quickly and glaring murderously at me for bearing witness to her accidental moment of femininity.

I raised my glass to her in a toast and she mirrored it and we both poured the liquid down our throats. I felt a bite as the drink sloshed down my gullet. Whatever was in the drink was singing through my veins, starbursts of power going off behind my eyes. I assumed based on the energy and the little shiny crystals in the liquid this was that dust stuff Ruby and her friends used in their weapons. Neo's pupils had expanded as we drank, now covering nearly the entirety of both irises.

I felt my pulse pounding, and realized the reason I was so affected by her, my hunger had been slowly creeping up on me. I had been so distracted by everything going on I hadn't even realized how much I needed to feed. I found myself staring at her lips. I leaned slowly in to kiss her and…almost fell off my damn chair when a loud series of beeps split the silent air. Neo's head shook sharply, clearing the cobwebs, and she reached down to flip out her scroll.

Her face looked frustrated and fairly annoyed as she read over the message, then she typed one out and flicked it off her screen to ding onto mine. 'Needed elsewhere for tonight, sorry to cut this short. Meet again soon?' I gave her a hazy smile, still drunk off lust and starlight "Yeah sounds good. I definitely want to finish this soon." She gave a saucy smirk and a wink before standing up to slip out of the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts and the silence.

I sat alone in the dark VIP room. Trying to collect my thoughts. I wasn't really opposed to sex with Neo, she was a cutie, and it had been a while, but I didn't like how my Hunger had snuck up on me. Usually I was constantly aware of it. It had crossed my mind being here had given me more control of it or made me have to feed less, but it turned out I'd just learned to repress the awareness of it. I needed to feed before I went back to Beacon, I couldn't be around my cousins or their friends like this.

I was just deciding to head down to the club to find a girl to feed on when the door to the VIP room clicked open. I glanced up and…froze. Holy shit. The girl who came in was gorgeous. Long black hair flowing down one side of her face, covering one of a pair of absolutely stunning golden eyes, her iris burned like a coal in the dark. Smooth pale skin leading down to an enticing view of a tight red dress, showing a generous amount of toned leg, leading down to a pair of what appeared to be glass heels. I think I was actually drooling.

Her cupids bow mouth curved into a smirk as she sauntered over to perch on the arm of the couch I'd taken up residence on after Neo left. The flames embroidered on her dress slid over her smooth legs as if she were actually burning up from the sheer sensuality of the act. She reached out a slim hand to me as she sat "Well hello there, handsome. I expected this place to be empty but I cant seem to be too disappointed by the lack of solitude. I haven't seen you here before, care to introduce yourself, or are you just going to leave a girl to wonder?"

I felt myself smirk in response. She was used to putting men off balance. Everything about her was calculated to be so overwhelming the average man would turn into a stuttering mess. Not like some of the overblown sexpots in my family, like cousin Madeline, but more like the effect Lara had on men. Unfortunately for her, sex appeal was a fact of life for me, I was more than inoculated. Not to mention that I wasn't the prey. I was a predator, if my Hunger had one upside it was confidence in myself. Off balance around women wasn't even possible for me.

I took her soft hand and brushed my lips along the back of her knuckles, feeling her pulse pick up beneath the fingers that pressed against her wrist as I raised the hand to my lips. "Thomas, Thomas Raith, and what name could do justice to such a vision of loveliness." I didn't go in for the full mind-fuck like some of my family, but this girl was more than willing to play the game, so I also didn't feel a reason to hold back.

I didn't need sex to feed, not really, so in order to whet my appetite as I kissed her hand I drew in the slightest bit of energy…and I saw stars. It couldn't have just been Aura. I imagine that had something to do with it, but the depths of power, the energy I'd drained off just from touching lips to knuckles… this girl was not normal. I'd felt some of the huntresses around here, none of them had power like this.

I looked up into her eyes, or the one I could see anyway, and saw the black of her pupil nearly swallow the burning gold of her iris in a wave of molten lust. Her breath came out in short pants…and speaking of pants mine were starting to get really uncomfortable. "C-Cinder" she said, her voice still the same throaty purr but maybe a bit deeper, and I didn't miss the hitch in her speech "Cinder Fall, and really your timing couldn't be better. I've been a bit…stressed lately, lots going on, I was actually out looking to blow off some steam. Would you know a place I could have a little fun?"

I was surprised at that, and a bit pleased. She was used to being a predator too, not willing to surrender the initiative. I'd seduced plenty of women faster than this, and when I was a lot less hungry than I was now, but most of them didn't try to keep control like she was. It made me smile. She wasn't prey either, not really, I got the impression we were both hunting each other, which was fine with me. I pulled her hand gently tugging her off the arm of the couch and into my lap, giving her plenty of room to refuse or resist. She didn't. She melted into my lap smashed her lips to mine and…I almost exploded.

The power from before was back. I didn't need sex, not from this girl, not when the Aura had her life force singing across the surface of her skin, buzzing down her tongue. I just drank, fed, and felt the power pour into me. There didn't seem to be a limit to it. I'd fed before, on at least one occasion fed fully. That was usually necessary to truly feel sated even for a minute, to take gulps from the tap at full blast. Cinder…Cinder was a goddamn river. The power was pouring down my throat, lighting me up inside, and it wasn't slowing down at all. Hell it was getting faster, coming harder than before, I could feel her legs around my waist now, hips rolling against me as we tried to consume each other.

My hands were on her ass, gripping her tightly as I essentially tried to climb down her damn throat, she was screaming into my mouth, and not in a bad way, her hands fisted in my now short hair. It felt like the room was shaking around us. The power was so amazing I thought the earth was- and then I was on the floor. The couch had flipped with us on it, the wall had been blasted clean open and chunks of dirt and debris had pelted us. Honestly I doubt I'd have noticed if the couch flipping hadn't torn me free of her. She lay about four feet away, eyes glazed over with pleasure, breath coming in little gasps, but otherwise fine and healthy as a horse. Jesus, what the hell was she?

She shook her head to clear it but before I could go check on her I heard a voice bellow out in the club below "Ladies and gentlemen, please don't get up! No need to be alarmed, we're merely here to lodge a service complaint with the management. Keep your barely covered little asses parked where they are and as soon as we finish speaking to the owner we'll be on our merry way!" I was dazed and confused and I pulled myself up and stumbled to the hole in the wall.

The club below was…a wreck. The hole in the upper floor was matched by one in the front of the club, I looked over to check on Cinder, but she was gone, which made perfect sense, I wished her well, and wasn't sure if I wanted to run into her again. That had been…intense. The voice in the club below had come from a man with bright red hair and bowler hat. He swung a crook topped cane up onto his shoulder and grinned "Oh Junior! I came by to say hello! I heard you had a chat with some friends about the business we did together! I come to places like this because of the discretion, Junior! My new friends and I aren't pleased about you running your mouth!"

He was bellowing into the packed club towards the bar. The goons I could now see with him wore white bone masks with red and black tribal designs on them. They had black hoods on over the masks and all in all did not give a pleasant, happy-go-lucky impression. I was riding high on Cinders energy still and felt stronger than I ever have. I reached down and drew my weapons before stepping from the hole and dropping down to the ground into a crouch.

I barely felt the impact, god I'd never felt this strong before. "Sorry to cut into your monologue Raggedy Andy, but I'm almost positive that its not a custom around here to blow up the walls to places. Also I was about to round third base with this insanely hot girl before you interrupted, so, yknow, fuck you." He turned to me with a smile. Not looking even a bit unnerved by my acrobatics.

His grin was smug and wolfish "Sorry kid, I have business with Junior over there. You look like a strapping young lad, I'm sure you can find another girl. How about I let you walk away without smashing you like a beer can and we can call it even." I gave him a nasty grin of my own and raised one of the twin guns Ogden had made me.

I looked him dead in the eye and pulled the trigger…with the gun aiming directly behind me. The burst of refined dust rocketed me forward faster than I'd ever gone in my life. The guns released modulated bursts of power, wider bursts gave me propulsion and thinner bursts had piercing power, a dial near my thumb controlled the modulation. I grinned as I felt the world move around me like it was under water my increased power allowing me to perceive everything as if it was moving in slow motion.

Raggedy Andy smiled at me as I came rushing towards him…and stepped aside. I felt the crook of his cane hook around my collar bone and his wrist wrap around my ankle, and barely had time to register what was happening as he whirled me in a full circle and putting even more speed on me, smashed me headfirst into the stone wall of the club. Luckily the pain from feeling all the bones in my face shatter knocked me unconscious before I could be too embarrassed. Small miracles huh?

Elsewhere

Cinder Fall sat in front of the security monitors behind the club and chewed her lip. This little outing had not gone as planned. She had noticed Neo with the target and gotten her out of the way easily enough, having been warned of his coming by her employer. Salem wanted the boy for some reason and Cinder always delivered what her mistress wanted. Failing to do so was…unhealthy. But the episode in the VIP room was… unusual.

She had planned to seduce him (he was a hungry sex vampire, and a teenage male to boot it wouldn't have been hard) and have her people take him afterwards when she had…worn him out. But his power had reacted oddly with the fall maidens gift, creating some kind of circuit. Her power had surged between them and she couldn't..couldnt think, couldn't stop. As much as she hated giving him credit Torchwick had been right to interfere.

She'd had him watching the club just in case. As much as she'd enjoyed the little interlude she wondered if Lady Salem knew something about what had happened that she didn't. Probably. Lady Salem knew everything. In any case she had an idea of what would happen now and could plan around it. Still. She couldn't wait to see that boy again. She still had a mission, and oh what fun it would be.

 **Ok guys sorry if this seemed rushed. I had a lot to pack in and a lot of things to include. I had some trouble with this one so I just ripped it off like a bandaid. Please review, it really helps a lot. Hope you enjoyed this one and the new direction. Also I debated on a lemon but decided against it this chapter, there will be one coming though, feel free to vote on who it should be with, I have some ideas but I'll take your votes under advisement.**


	11. Take me Home Tonight

I woke up with a splitting headache. I vaguely remembered my seemingly eternal and far too short kiss with Cinder and a fight with some Raggedy Andy looking asshole. Well, fight was…generous. He had knocked me the fuck out. It was pretty embarrassing. I'd never felt anything like that before, something about Cinders power had reacted with mine like nitro. I was amped and bursting with power, or I had been before I burned off what I assumed was a substantial amount of it repairing what had at the very least been a shattered skull, and at worst had been serious brain and spine damage.

Even after burning off so much I felt…sated…in a way I hadn't since my Hunger had been awakened. My sisters had never mentioned anything like this, but then…my hunger always was a little different. Lara had been telling me since I had learned about it that I had to keep quiet about that. Apparently I was a freak even for a sex vampire, though she wasn't really clear on how. She said my mother had warned her to expect it, and it showed itself in little ways most people wouldn't even notice, better control, more physical power, that kind of thing.

I shook off the pain a bit and tried to sit up, a leather clad ass of all things stopped me, slamming me back down into what I now realized was a couch with the full weight of…Yang. Who looked pretty pissed at me. "So the dumbass is awake. Mind telling me what your dumb ass was thinking charging a wanted criminal. Dumbass." Her eyes were blazing red and she didn't have any of the friendly demeanor she'd had when we'de talked at school, not the flirty disposition of our first meeting.

I was pretty stuck, not that having a pretty, scantily clad girl sitting on my chest was the worst captivity I could think of but busty blonde or not Yang was definitely off the menu for any number of reasons, I firmly relegated her to the headspace you use for that hot relative who is like two or three degrees removed but still isn't a viable sexual option (in normal families, lets not go into Raith family reuinions, Sigmund Freud isn't qualified, even pre-vampire I knew my family had issues) regardless I was touched she was worried and glad to wake up not splattered on a wall somewhere.

I craned my neck from where I was laying and after catching a pretty good view of a large expanse of bare leg (good lord those shorts were tiny) I managed to figure out I was back in Tai-Yangs apartment. I seriously hoped he wasn't around because seeing this would probably spell my death, and judging by how kicked my ass had gotten earlier by that random thug I was guessing a pro hunter who was on a team with Qrow and hung around with Ozpin as a kid would chew me up like bubblicious.

Yang seemed to note my gaze, smirking a bit when I stared at all that leg and then smirking even more when she noticed my relief "Daddy is out meeting up with some old friends, he's crashing on their couch, so you get to live another night." The smirk vanished "Now as I was asking, why the hell were you fighting Roman Torchwick without even having an active Aura?" The entire time we'de been talking her eyes had been red, so I wasn't letting myself get lulled into thinking she was calming down, god why cant all women come with warning signs.

I decided to just get it out of the way "Honestly I wasn't thinking, I'd had a few drinks and was a little buzzed and looking for a fight, he seemed like a chump so I figured I could take him, how was I supposed to know he had training?" I purposefully didn't mention my Hunger, I hadn't told them much of anything about my Hunger and if I kept up at this rate I wouldn't have to. Being a punchy drunk was probably the closest to the truth I could get without spilling the sex vampire beans so I didn't feel too bad about the little white lie.

Yang rolled her eyes at that and got up muttering what sounded suspiciously like "boys!" and rolling her eyes as she headed into the kitchen, she popped the fridge open and pulled out a pitcher of what seemed like juice and poured some into a glass for me. "So you just saw a dangerous criminal with a gang wreaking havoc and thought 'I'ma deck him in the schnoz'?"

I gave her a sheepish grin and scratched my head in the universal gesture for 'well shit', letting out a laugh at her exasperation "Not exactly, but pretty close I guess. I was feeling pumped from…my drink, and I really wanted to blow off some steam." I gave her what I hoped was a charming grin and was met with another eye roll.

Yangs look of disdain for my plain was pretty withering, but I thought I saw a hint of fondness in her eyes "In any case he wrecked you, trying to fight him without your aura active was pretty stupid. At least I assume your aura isn't active, I didn't feel an active aura when I carried you back here." She snorted at what she clearly thought was my immense stupidity "I wouldn't have even known anything had happened if my friend Melinda hadn't been there drinking and called to tell me about the mess. We've been looking into Torchwick so I thought I'd come see Mel and check out what was going on. You got lucky."

I had a vague memory of a pale girl with dark eyes and pitch black hair standing next to Yang as she picked me up to bring me here, I guess I'd woken up for a minute. "Melinda was the girl with you when you came to get me?" Yang rolled her eyes at me again, this time presumably because I'd been distracted from important things by a pretty girl.

"Yeah Casanova, that was her. Melinda Dusk, The Hanged Mans Beautiful Daughter." I could literally hear the capital letters in the way she said that. "Mel is pretty much criminal royalty in this town, her daddy is one of the toughest criminals vale has ever seen. Not some little two bit punk like Torchwick, The Hanged Man , is truly terrifying, theres rumors that he was The Ogre, but that's never been proven. In any case don't get any ideas. Mel is taken, though she refuses to tell me who he is."

I gave her a confused glance "Ok slow down, firstly who the hell is The Ogre? Secondly if this Hanged Man guy is so scary why the hell haven't the hunters ganged up to take him down. You guys have the equivalent of a standing army of super- warriors with magic powers, at least some of them have to be tough enough to take down one guy." I'd seen some of the hunters and how they fought, I bet Qrow could've taken this guy, even if he needed some backup.

Yang looked pensive "We're getting off topic, but I will say that it's complicated, The Hanged Man has more than a few capable fighters of his own, his organization is huge, not to mention he helps keep the Queen of Hearts in check, shes the other major player in Vales underworld. Between her Red Guard and The Hanged Mans Renegades the hunters couldn't afford to declare a real war on crime in the city if we hit one the other would hit us, it'd be too good an opportunity for either of them to pass up."

Yang looked agitated by this line of discussion but kept on "Not to mention how that would affect our manpower in regards to dealing with the Grimm on the borders or our ability to deflect an invasion from one of the other countries. Atlas is the only country that technically has a standing military, but Vacuo and Mistral both have hunter schools, and Vacuo is a total shithole, if they saw a chance to move we cant say they wouldn't take it. Anyway like I said off topic, regardless you asked about The Ogre. He was a serial killer active about twenty years ago, only killed hunters, and only the good ones. He was messy and brutal and scared a lot of people. It was a bad time. Lots of Grimm incursions from all the ambient fear. He hasn't been active in ages but no one is sure where he went."

I finished my drink and got up to stretch feeling my muscles and joints popping as I did, not painfully but in that relaxing morning stretch kind of way, I was healing fine so apparently Cinders little shot of espresso for my soul was holding, I wouldn't need to feed for a day or two unless I got messed up bad "Well, I have plenty to think on Yang, I appreciate you patching me up." I was grateful as hell for aura, I doubted this girl had any concept of normal human healing at this point. She probably hadn't even thought to be suspicious of how quickly I mended "without aura"

I gave her a hug and a promise to talk to Qrow about training (which I fully intended to keep, I was woefully unprepared for this world) before leaving and heading back to Beacon, unconsciousness wasn't the same as sleep and I was tired, it'd been a long night and theres something soothing about sleeping in your own bed, even for the first time. Besides, I had a date to plan for tonight, and a carrot cake to bake.

 **Ok folks lots of backstory here, plugged some stuff that'll be important later on and some bonding for Thomas and Yang, as mentioned Yang and Ruby are family to Thomas now, so a hookup there is unlikely, impossible with Ruby, and probably not gonna happen with Yang though who knows where the story will take me. Big date with Velvet is coming up either next chapter or the one after. Reviews give me life people, I'll update way faster with motivation and the chapters will be longer, takes like ten seconds to write one, even a "great chapter' or "you suck" would inspire me more than nothing. Anyway hope to hear from you all. Till next time.**


	12. Black Cat

I got back to my room and crashed immediately. My sleep was dreamless and deep, or at least seemed that way to me. I know we always have dreams but I don't often remember mine, which I tend to take as a mercy because half of your spirit being a soul eating hunger beast does not for a pleasant dreamscape make. After waking up I debated trying to find Velvet and skip out early, but after the beating I got from the hipster hit man I didn't think it was safe to run around without the skills to throw down.

My first stop was going to have to be trying to find Qrow for a bit of training, I winced at what I was sure was going to end up being a very painful experience. Qrow didn't strike me as a gentle teacher. I made sure to grab my guns from where I'd left them. I could do a bit of training on my own while waiting for Qrow. I shot him a quick message on my scroll and slipped out of my room. I hadn't slept long because of the earlier bout of unconsciousness so it was still dark out.

The halls were quiet and empty, I figured I'd have a few hours until everyone was up and about, and a few more until combat classes cleared me out. Beacon looked so different in the gloom of early morning darkness. The shadows were long and cold, but somehow comforting, I had no fear of the dark, and never had. The statue in the courtyard looked strange and misshapen in the dark, the multiple human shapes blurring together into a single monstrous thing. I thought it was just the stone figures ar first but on closer inspection I saw a shape.

It was Blake. She looked beautiful in the low light, my Hunger enhanced vision making my eyes more than sharp enough to catch ever line of her pale, angular features. She was holding a book, as per usual, but unlike every other time I'd seen her her eyes were soft and relaxed, her skin unlined with worry and untightened by tension. The peace on her face made her already beautiful features seem almost divinely beautiful, and I found myself struck dumb, speechless as I stared at this gorgeous girl.

I was about to leave, not wanting to disturb her, when her face tightened to its usual alert state and her amber eyes flicked up to meet mine. She slowly closed the book and stood. Gracefully hopping off the base of the statue and reluctantly ambling over. "Hello Thomas, I didn't expect to see you awake so early. Is there something you needed? You seemed like you wanted something."

I definitely wanted something from her, but wasn't nearly stupid enough to tell her that "No I'm sorry, it took me a minute to make out a shape in this low light, I don't see so well in the dark, I was going to move along when I realized it was you, I wouldn't want to interrupt your reading time. I know you value the peace and quiet and I cant imagine a better time or place for either than this. Please return to your book, I'll be on my way."

Something about being around her made me feel so stiff and formal (not like that pervs, not every thought in my head is about sex) I was tense and on my guard around her and I suspected it drew a similar response but I just couldn't relax around her. It was almost like my Hunger recognized another predator but I couldn't think of a reason for it to view her as such. She shook her head, features relaxing a bit "No, please, I'm sorry I'm being so standoffish its early and this is usually my alone time its true, but it's a big campus and I've no right to tell you where to be on it, besides I'd hoped to get a chance to talk more, youre so close to Yang and Ruby after so short a time and even Weiss likes you, I'd like to know you better too."

We walked back over the statue and sat down. I gave her a shy (dear god that was a first) smile. "I've been hoping to talk to you too. I wanted to apologize again for our first meeting. My semblance is hard to manage and tends to overwhelm me when I cant focus. I find it kind of hard to focus around you." I laughed as I said it to try to mitigate the embarrassment I was feeling, from her blush I wasn't alone in that.

She gave me a quiet smile "It's not a problem, I heard your conversations with the others and I've talked to you a bit more. I don't think it was intentional. Just try not to do it again. You seem like a nice person, and like I said with you being so close to the rest of my team I think we'll be spending more time together. I'd like us to be friends." She leaned back against the stone to stare up at the sky, in the pre-morning sky a few stars were still visible, the moon still round and bright before the sun peeked over the horizon.

I laid back myself staring up as well "Thank you, I'd like that myself. I don't have many people here in Vale, just Qrow and Yang and Ruby. Weiss seems like a nice girl and we have a lot in common, very similar upbringings, my dad was…honestly to me he was just a ghost, never there, and terrifying when he was." I shook my head to clear the melancholy, too much time dwelling on that already. "In any case more friends is just what I need.

She gave me a smirk "I noticed you seemed to be making friends with Velvet pretty quickly. I have pretty good ears and I caught most of that conversation. I hope you weren't assuming you and I were going to be that close." She raised an eyebrow in challenge but the quirk of her lips on one side and the amused glint in her eye belied her words, she wasn't really bagging on me, just making fun of a friend, I didn't mind it at all.

I returned her smirk with my own "Well I don't much go in for lying so I wont say the thought hadn't crossed my mind, but I don't make a habit of assuming anything. I'm just looking for friends, I was up front with Velvet about my interest, and I'm being up front with you about this. Like I said I wont claim not to find you attractive, I'm just not aiming for more at the moment." I appreciated the teasing tone, plenty of girls would have made the accusation without bothering to joke about it, well the ones who wouldn't be interested anyway.

She gave a pleased smile and I decided that was the right answer. She wanted to see if I'd be honest, she wasn't blind so she could tell I found her attractive and wanted to know what I'd say. "I appreciate the candor, and the optimism, I particularly like your use of the phrase at the moment. I'd be happy to be friends, but I wouldn't expect anything else, I haven't had the best luck in relationships, I tend to steer clear. In my experience sex just complicates things." She looked a bit sad when she said that last part, but her smile turned devilish "Besides, I would probably break you." We both laughed before gazing back up at the stars, and didn't speak again for quite a while. Sometimes being alone is more fun when you don't have to do it by yourself.

 **Ok guys short chapter, I wanted to include some Blake time. To address a point from a reviewer Thomas does have Aura I'll explain why later, I've dropped a few hints already if you look for them. This is day 6 of my 7 days 7 stories update plan, I'd appreciate it a lot if you guys could check out some of my other stories. I hope to see some reviews as per usual they fuel my life force, thanks for reading guys, if this works out I might be updating this and my other seven stories weekly so fingers crossed.**


	13. Blood and Iron

I was the first person to get to the training room. I left Blake after about a half hour, feeling really good about how we'd left things. There was something about Blake that reminded me of me, sad and a little quiet and with a sneaky sense of humor. I was betting her past was rough. She seemed like a really good person to have as a friend though. Speaking of people in my life that could be confusing I saw Qrow heading towards me.

My Uncle was sipping coffee from a black mug, looking relaxed and calm, for all the world like Mr. normal the business man starting off his day with a cup of Joe. Granted I could smell the whiskey coming out of that cup from about ten feet away. He was still Qrow. I flashed him a smile "Alright glad you showed up I don't know if Yang mentioned my run in with Raggedy Dandy, though considering the riot act she read me I'm guessing she did, but I definitely need to learn a few things about this place if I'm gonna stay in one piece."

Qrow snorted as he pushed the door open to an empty room. The center of the room was a recessed pit with a red dirt floor, surrounded by concert style seating in a circle beyond the rings railing. Qrow stepped up on the railing and dropped down into the pit, motioning me to follow. He didn't even bend his knees when he landed. "Of course you do kid, you thought I would get you your guns and you'd just be an instant badass? You look like you've had a bit of training, but the people here are Hunters. We're raised for this, kids start combat schools like signal before puberty, a couple years of fighting lessons will help but you don't have the context for that knowledge, I'd hazard a guess you've never been in a life or death fight?"

I'd dropped down into the pit with him and was leaning against the wall, arms crossed "Ok, no, I haven't. I don't fight much, the occasional jealous boyfriend or husband, but not real fighters, besides my Hunger gives me a lot of strength, but it doesn't seem to be as consistent as your Aura." I'd been training in martial arts with Lara for most of my life (she'd known I'd need to be able to handle myself well before I had) but the fact was practicing joint locks and throws in the family dojo and trying to fight people with actual combat experience weren't even close to the same thing. Lara had taught me a lot, and had been fighting for literally centuries, but she was my sister, ultimately she was never going to be a real enough threat for me to learn what to do when my back was against the wall. She loved me too much.

Qrow just shook his head "I don't actually know if that's true. I can feel something in you, I think you might have an Aura, though we would need to activate it for it to be apparent. What doesn't make sense to me is why on remnant you would. Your mother didn't have an Aura, so either being here before she had you and being exposed to Aura somehow changed her and gave you that well of power or all the vampires like you have Aura, maybe you're all from here somehow. Honestly I have no clue, but theres definitely something there for us to work with and that's the important part."

He gave me a feral grin "However we aren't going to activate your Aura yet. Between the Aura you have and your Hunger you might be a match for me in raw strength, but nothing you can do will give you the skills you need without practice. I'd like to teach you a few things while you're weak enough that I can hold back a bit. Once you're a bit more competent we can unlock your Aura, sadly like I said even with both power sources active you'll only be about as strong as me, your Aura isn't really very impressive, though I'm not sure if your Hunger will get any stronger as you grow."

I cursed at that, great, even as some sort of weird hybrid I wasn't any tougher than Qrow. "Well thanks for that. Ok so whats first on the agenda?" Qrow gave me a nasty smirk and started toward me. He left his sword sheathed but it was apparent from his posture we had officially started the match. As he came within swinging distance I lashed out fast with a kick at his head. He vanished.

I don't mean he blurred out of sight or dropped fast, he was there one second then he was gone. If he was this fast I was screwed, I heard a whisper behind me and spun fast…into a haymaker. I'd turned right into the punch and next thing I knew I was on the ground. My face was on fire, I could feel my nose knitting itself back together as blood streamed out of it. Shit. I climbed slowly to my feet, keeping my eyes glues to Qrow, who was standing about ten feet away now.

What followed was probably the most painful two hours of my life. Each time a bone broke and reknit I felt my Hunger mount, I warned Qrow as we fought but he just blew it off, saying he had a fix for that. On the upside since Qrow was a guy and I was in horrible pain I wasn't tempted to feed at all. After he had broken probably every bone in my body at least once (I felt no better at fighting but Qrow swore I had improved plenty) we both sat down. I was having trouble focusing, and it didn't help that I was so angry.

I was glaring at Qrow trying to ignore the roaring in my ears "What the hell! I'm so hungry I can barely function. I might kill someone in this state." It might have been him, had I not just had ample proof he would crush me in a fight. Qrow just gave me a smirk and shook his head.

"You don't pay enough attention kid. I wanted to test a theory, think about it, why would I kick your ass so hard before awakening your Aura? Do you really think I needed you weak to teach you?" My rage must have shown on my face because he laughed "Don't worry kid, this is going to help you a lot. If my theory is right you'll never have to kill anyone again, well at least not during sex." I was about to ask what he meant when he reached out his hand, I felt his power flare and didn't even hear the chant he was muttering before I passed out.

XXXXXXXXXX

I woke up with a headache. Like, the worst headache I've ever had. Qrow was laying next to me panting and seemed to notice me waking up. "Oh hey kid, you're up. So theory proved I think. Or at least I suspect it is based on what happened when I activated your Aura." My uncle seemed…drained.

I glared at him again "What the hell did you do? Why did you make me so Hungry…why am I not Hungry anymore? Why are you so tired? Why am I so tired? What the actual fuck is going on?" With each question I got more agitated and angrier. I wasn't sure what the hell Qrow had done but I was so fucking tired of being in the dark.

Qrow chuckled at me, god if he didn't stop that I was going to beat his ass, he was tired enough I might be able to pummel him on the ground like he was. He smirked at me "Heres the situation kid. Your Hunger, as you call it, eats life force, Aura is life force, so when I activated your Aura your hunger tapped into it and drained off it to fuel your body. That's a good new bad news kind of thing. Good news is you wont feel Hungry when you don't feed anymore, bad news is itll slowly eat away at your Aura and if you don't stay fed you'll die. It wont sneak up on you, you'll notice you feel weak and drained. That's because your Hunger was pretty deep in the red when your Aura came online, honestly that would've killed you except when I activated your Aura mine connected to you and your Hunger drained off a big chunk of my own."

My face was slack with shock. I wasn't even pissed he hadn't warned me. I was…free. Well I mean not really, I was just sort of numb to the Hunger, but I wouldn't feel the constant burn to feed anymore. I thought if it was a choice and not a drive it might actually be kind of fun for me. Qrow seemed amused and continued "The big thing you need to remember is this. You wont need to feed as much, maybe once a week from what I can tell, if you don't rely on your Hunger, you can use your Aura instead and that recharges when you sleep, the Hunger will need a small amount per day to sustain you so you will still have to feed once in a while but provided you don't overdo it you should need to do it way less often."

My head was spinning, this was amazing. I couldn't believe I might be free."One warning though, Your Hunger will drain your Aura, if you try to use them at the same time you can put up a decent fight, though we do still need to train you up, however using them at once will drain you to dangerous levels and can't be done for a prolonged period. Maybe once you get some practice you'll be able to do it longer but for now I'd say five minutes, ten at most, and you'll need to feed within a few hours of that."

I rolled over on my side to look at him and gave him a relieved smile, I felt like I'd been hit by a whole convoy of trucks but I'd never been happier in my life. "Thank you Uncle Qrow, you don't know how much this means to me. I mean not the part where my dangerous and unstable power will suck out my own soul if I don't pay attention but not feeling the Hunger anymore." I nodded to him and climbed to my feet. "I will always owe you for this. Now if you'll excuse me I have to wash off all this blood and sweat and possibly some vomit before my date tonight. Which I will now enjoy much more." I gave him one last nod and walked smiling out of the room, limping to the shower with a grin on my face. Free for the first time.

 **Ok guys new chapter, seriously, please review, I didn't end up doing the daily update thing because the feedback wasn't there and I was just not motivated enough lol. Your reviews feed me. This chapter was tough for me, I had things I wanted to include that needed to be done but were hard to fit in, I did my best to balance Thomas' new power, he isn't too OP or badass, he has limits and its dangerous to him to try to exceed them. That being said I realize him not feeling the Hunger anymore is really convenient trust me when I say it'll be plenty of trouble in the future, things are going to start getting rough for our boy soon and I'm excited to write some of it. As for the Aura, yes he has one and I've dropped some subtle hints as to why, anyone who wants to guess can PM me, thanks for reading and hope you all liked it.**


	14. AN

Hey guys working sorry its been a while but I've been working on other things. Just finished publishing my first original novel. Its on Amazon and its called Mortal Spin by Morgan Landyss. If you like my writing style feel free to check it out.


	15. Rabbit Tango

**Thomas is a sex vampire, and this chapter is a date with a confident forward huntress. There is going to be plenty of lime in this and probably some lemon. You have been warned, skip if you don't want to see that, I'll do a quick recap of the important parts next chapter. Seriously this chapter is mostly sexual stuff, which again, shouldn't be too big a shock because the main character is a sex vampire. Theres probably going to be a few lemons in this story as a whole, but I'll be sure to mark them all. This chapter is basically smut. Beware!**

Apparently I had mentioned to Yang that I didn't have clothes, because when I got back to my room there were several bags sitting on my bed. I thanked got for my cousin and hopped in the shower, quickly washing off the dirt and grime before hopping out to check the clock. Velvet and I were supposed to meet at six thirty. Bullheads apparently stopped running at nine, so we had a few hours to walk around and take in the sights.

I dug through the bags Yang had left, which ranged from what looked like the gimp suit from pulp fiction, to an honest to god Hollister style polo with a pair of distressed jeans and a pooka shell necklace. Apparently Yang had decided since she didn't know what I usually wore she'd just get a bit of everything. I suspected the assless leather chaps were mostly a joke at my expense and rolled my eyes. I ended up wearing a pair of crisp black slacks and a dark red button up shirt with a twisting black tribal design sown down the side.

There was even a few pairs of shoes, and I threw on a pair of black leather loafers before slipping on a black belt with thick silver buckle. Yang had a damn good eye for clothing for someone who wore so little of it, and everything fit perfectly. I threw on a plain silver chain to complete the look and reminded myself to than my cousin later. I was particularly grateful for the black silk boxers I had slipped on. Fancy underwear always make a good impression, plus they were comfy as hell.

I made it down to the docks by six fifteen to find Velvet already waiting there. She was wearing a green sundress with yellow sunflowers all over it and looked absolutely gorgeous. She had a pair of strappy sandals laced up to mid calf and a small daisy behind one ear. Since I was behind her and she hadn't noticed me I couldn't resist checking for panty lines after her little tease in the lunch room. To my delight and surprise, I didn't see any, and there was plenty pulling that dress tight for me to check. I hadn't noticed during lunch because she was behind the counter and then gone, but Velvet had plenty of junk in the trunk.

I cleared my throat and she spun around, nearly jumping out of her skin, she blushed when she saw me but came up and gave me a very enthusiastic full body hug, confirming that her bra definitely matched her nonexistent underwear. I cleared my throat, noticing her slight blush and mischievous smile and knowing she'd meant me to feel that "You look absolutely breathtaking, if I'd known I was going to have to fight off every eligible guy in Vale I'd have worn more practical shoes."

Velvet giggled and pushed her hair behind the ear with the flower. "You look very nice as well, I'm afraid the last bullhead out is going to be a bit crowded. I might need to sit on your lap." I tried not to literally groan out loud as she took my hand and pretty much skipped us over the Bullhead, plopping down on my lap despite the fact that from what I could tell we were literally the only passengers. Velvet turned her head and spoke softly into my ear "So I'm glad we could do this tonight. It's odd, I'm usually very shy, but something about you puts me at ease. Ruby and Yang are friends of mine and they're good people, so that carries a lot of weight. Also you seem to REALLY like me, at least if I'm judging by the evidence pressing against my ass."

She shimmied a little in my lap, which felt pretty damn amazing, and I had to actually cough before I could speak " Well what can I say, sexy girls with big, round asses on my lap without panties on is a huge turn on. And I can only thank god at whatever twist of fate got you over your shyness, because from what I can see you're perfect as you are." She giggled and pressed a kiss to my cheek leaning against me in a move that wasn't really sexual as much as…comfortable.

She looked up at me with hooded eyes "Honestly its nice to find a cute guy I can be myself with. So many guys are racists or get scared off by my team. I haven't been on a real date in ages. I cant tell you how on edge that makes me. It's funny, a lot of faunus get some traits from our animal heritage, like I know plenty of cat faunus who go nuts over fish, and a lot of bird faunus like to hoard shiny things. As a rabbit faunus I don't have that many traits, but I did get a few, my love of carrot cake might be one, but I think the biggest is…well, have you ever heard the phrase 'fucking like bunnies'?"

I felt my pulse quicken "I…well yeah, we do have that phrase were I'm from, but I'm not sure how that would apply. Well, to be honest I have plenty of ideas but I'm afraid to comment because I don't want to offend you. But I'm pretty sure you can feel how much interest I have in hearing more." Good lord, I was actually sweating. I was beginning to think I might not be the only person here thinking this was going to end in sex. I wondered how much of this was my general aura of charm and how much was her nature. This wasn't a first for me, but when I wasn't actively trying things usually didn't move this fast.

She rolled her eyes "I like to fuck, Thomas. Like a lot. Don't get me wrong its not like I'm get around or anything, I've only been with two or three guys. Mostly I just masturbate a few times a day to relieve stress. I usually wouldn't dream of approaching a guy as forwardly as I have you, but honestly I just get this…" she shivered against me "this feeling around you. If you werent Rubys cousin I don't think I'd have even acted on it but… I just get this feeling from you, that the sex would be great, and you seem so nice."

I was pretty much frozen at that confession, I'll admit the mental images accompanying all this were pretty pleasant. Velvet continued talking, clearly unaware that I had become a living statue "Of course, its not just an amped up sex drive, I suspect my rabbit heritage has something to do with how obscenely turned on I get from fucking outside, especially in open places close to nature." She gave me a sly look "Places like parks. Fucking in parks gets me insanely hot. How about you Thomas? Have you ever fucked a girl in a park?"

My mouth was dry and my brain was barely working, but I had enough mental processing power to shake my head. I cleared my incredibly dry throat and responded in as collected a manner as possible "I…I cant say I have. Although, and I'm not trying to kill the mood or be insensitive, but rabbits are known for something else, besides loving sex, and I didn't bring a condom." I cursed myself for an idiot, because I had heavily suspected we'd be having sex and I should have bummed one of Qrow or something.

Velvet giggled "It's not insensitive, it's a pretty reasonable thing to worry about. God knows I don't want kids messing up my training and derailing my career. Kind of dumb of you to not think to bring protection, I wasn't exactly subtle about my intentions, but its cool, I have us covered. Well, not literally, but I'm on the pill." I sighed with relief at that, that should work out fine, White Court can have kids with normal people but it isn't exactly common. The fertility rate there is low, and combined with the pill we should be fine, even if Velvet was more fertile than most.

There was a jarring thump and Velvet hopped up, pulling me to my feet. We slipped out into the station and down a side street quickly, Velvet clearly in as big a hurry as I was. After about fifteen minutes, we made it to a wide sprawling park full of lush green grass and trees and Velvet pulled me down a side path and into a secluded clearing before turning to me.

"So, no more games, because whatever weird semblance you have combined with where we are and the mood I'm in is driving me crazy. I just want to check one more time, lay out all my cards, in case you aren't interested, I'll be bummed but we can still have a nice date and just head home in a few hours." She reached up and slipped the straps of her dress off and dropped it to the ground, green fabric pooling around her sandaled feet. "But I'm really hoping you're interested, because I want to fuck you so badly right now."

 **Lemon Start**

I was frozen again for a moment. Velvet…looked amazing naked. Her tits were round and full, probably about a D cup, and I suddenly wished she'd turn around so I could see that glorious ass, but I figured Id get to that later. She was trim and fit, with toned muscles running up her thighs and leading to her flat stomach with just a bit of abs showing. I wasn't one of those guys that got weirded out by a bit of muscle. I thought she looked amazing.

It took me a minute to realize she was waiting nervously for a response, chewing her lip while one ear curled down. She looked scared, like she had used up all her courage getting to this point and she was afraid it was all going to fall apart. I crossed the distance between us in a flash and pulled her into an intense kiss. It felt…different. With my Aura active, feeding felt less like I was sucking out her life force and more like she was pouring it into me. Like her soul was draining down my throat. It felt amazing.

I grabbed a handful of that huge, beautiful ass as we kissed and I felt her melt into me, mewling at the contact, I squeezed a little tighter, knowing she had Aura and I wasn't going to hurt her accidentally and the mewl turned into a needy whine. Following the logical train of thought from where I was I took my hand off her ass, eliciting an unhappy moan, and brought it down hard in a brisk slap on her right ass cheek.

I'd been enjoying the moans and encouraging sounds so far, I figured if she liked the little slap on the ass I'd get another like that, or maybe something a little louder, and I was looking forward to that. What I was not expecting was for Velvet to bite down on my lower lip and squeal out the hottest, dirtiest, most pleading sound I had ever heard in my life. I didn't even wince at the pain from the bite it was so hot, Velvet jerked away from me, my blood, paler than a regular persons, was dripping down her chin but she didn't even seem to notice, she was looking at me dazed and out of it, clearly in a state of lust so heavy she couldn't think straight.

She turned around and put her hands against the tree, finally showing me what was, without doubt, the most breathtaking ass I had ever seen in my life, and looking over her shoulder at me with eyes glazed in needful lust "Again." I must have been looked pretty shocked, with blood dripping from my torn lip and frozen in a blue screen of sex because she elaborated "Slap my fucking ass, again!"

That jarred me into action and I drew back my hand and sent it swinging down at the same reddened cheek as before. I heard a crisp ringing slap and a coo of disappointment before Velvet glared back over her shoulder. "Don't be a pussy Thomas. You did it harder before. Slap it like you mean it if you want anything but your hand wrapped around your dick tonight." Thinking that I'd teach her a little lesson and give her a sore ass, I drew on my power and a few years of experience, and a little bit of incubus instinct and laid my palm out flat against that big round ass with some real force behind it."

Velvets knees almost buckled and she cried out, but instead of the annoyance I expected, her wordless yelp was full of sex and desperation "Oh, fuck me, yes!" Oddly I actually felt my power run through her that time. When we feed it feels amazing to our prey, much better than regular sex. Apparently Velvet had a spanking fetish, because I got a nice deep pull of sexual energy off that, which meant Velvet got to feel the best spanking she'd ever experienced.

I decided that I wanted to get us to the part where we were both having fun, so I ran a hand along that cherry red cheek and yanked her back into me, eliciting another squeal. "Fuck you huh? That does sound like fun. But you seem to enjoy having that big sexy ass slapped, are you sure you want to stop. I could just tie you to the tree and spank you for the rest of the night. Maybe we can save the actual fucking for our second date." This was I was praying, a bluff, if I had to slap that perfect ass all night and didn't get to actually participate I was going to explode. I'd still do it, but I was hoping she was as excited for the main event as I was.

I was not disappointed, Velvets hair flew back and forth as she shook her head vigorously "No, I need you. I need to fuck, please. That sounds amazing but I need your dick. You can spank me more another time! Any other time! My ass is yours to slap whenever you feel like it just please, god, FUCK ME!" Her voice was that needy moaning whine, that porn stars try so hard to mimic but never manage to get right. The one that makes your brain shut off and your eyes glaze over because theres no more blood left above your waist.

I reached down and finally touched her. I'd been aching to feel her pussy all night, but I'd held back and I was glad I had. As soon as my finger slid in I had to loop my arm around her from grabbing one of her tits as purchase as her knees gave out and she almost keened in pleasure. "Wow, you are almost alarmingly wet. Good thing you decided against panties, you'd have had to wring them out before we got on the bullhead. I have to admit though, you certainly are ready. I don't want to rush things though, this is our first date. Actual penetration might be a bit fast. Are you sure we shouldn't wait."

I was teasing her, and it was mean, but I was enjoying how much she wanted me, this new, slow, languid feeding was intoxicating. I was eating my fill without the pressure to drain more. It was like eating gourmet food after years of having to wolf down every meal to combat starvation. Apparently I wasn't the only one intoxicated thought, Velvet jerked out of my hold spun around grabbed my slacks and straight up ripped them in two down the front. Holy shit. Note to self, don't hold out on the huntress. Thankfully she didn't rip my boxers, just yanked them down and…

Oh god. Her legs were around my waist and she was around my dick and I couldn't force my brain to work. It was like…the first time I was ever having sex, except it was like it should have been. Like a torrent of power pouring down my throat, not like Cinder, slower and smoother and more…sexual. My brain could stay gone though, because my physical body was feeling just as good, Velvet was wet as hell and insanely tight and just as soft as her name would have you believe.

She had her legs around my waist and was rolling her hips and I had to spin around and fall against the tree because she was RIDING me and good god my legs weren't working. I felt the bark scrape against my back as I slid down and then I was sitting at the base of the tree and Velvet was rolling that perfect ass in my lap and kissing me and I felt like I was drowning under the power and the sex. I could feel from her tightness and the moans and coos she made she was enjoying this every bit as much as I was, the vampiric feedings pleasure enhancing effects rolling through her like a tide instead of exploding like it used to.

I threw myself forward bringing her with me and slamming her down on her back as I held myself above her, driving myself in deeper and feeling her moaning whine against my mouth. And then I started actually participating, and we both nearly lost our minds. Once I joined in the sexual surge from my hunger became a tidal wave, carrying us both away as I pounded into her, not having to worry about holding back because her aura. The rest was mostly a blur, her leg up on my shoulder as I pounded into her, then her riding me while I lay on my back, her on her hands and knees, or against the tree, or with that perfect ass in the air and her cheek in the grass with a dazed look on her beautiful face.

She came when I did. Once, twice, a dozen times. And the whole time I knew exactly how much energy we had and what was too far, and all I wanted was to make it last. There was no dark urge to take everything, no horrible need to consume her entirely. All I wanted was to conserve as much as I could, to draw this out because for once in my life I was enjoying sex just as much as my partner and I didn't want it to stop. And I could've kept going, could've gone forever, but eventually her aura did actually start to get low, rationing or not, and when I felt it start to wane I suppressed my own aura and let my physical body get tired along with hers, because somehow that felt right, even if as soon as I lost focus the energy would just heal me right back up anyway.

 **Lemon End**

The sun was up by the time we stopped. Well, just rising, my scroll, which had somehow survived being flung across the clearing at a tree when the clothes started tearing off, said it was six thirty, which meant we'd just essentially fucked for an entire twelve hours. Of course I wasn't tired. I was as awake as you could get. I felt vibrant and alive. I was panting, because I wasn't letting my Aura heal me, so I could give myself the illusion of being sated. At least physically. Mentally I was like the cat that ate the canary. Or the bunny I guess. Because I had definitely done that a few times.

I heard a soft moan next to me, not the lustful needy moans from earlier, but a pleased, sated, tired moan. The kind of moan you hear from someone who has just finished the best cake in the world and they're too stuffed to eat another bite. Velvet cuddled against me, still naked, covered in sweat…and other things. I nipped at one of her ears, which I had discovered she loved, and she moaned and shoved her face into my shoulder "Noooo, stop. No more. I'm going to need a wheelchair as it is. I don't think my legs work. My Aura is just gone. You literally pounded the soul out of me."

I chuckled at that "You seem pretty spirited to me. Besides don't pretend like it was one sided. It takes two to tango, or it felt like three a couple times. I don't even have a name for some of the things we did last night. Seriously where did you learn that thing with the tire swing, and dear god your semblance is useful. I wonder if your teammates know their sweet innocent little bunny has sex toys saved in her camera along with all those weapons."

She stuck her tongue out at me, but her smile ruined the effect "My semblance lets me copy skills that I see. The camera does the props and those are one shots, but the skills stick around, and I watch A LOT of porn. As for my team… well Fox and Yatsu we keep in the dark for their own good, but Coco…like I said, I masturbate several times a day. Its impossible to hide that from EVERYONE. I need a lookout. And sometimes a helping hand." This last was said with a wink and may have been a joke.

I groaned and pulled myself up, leaving her curled up in the grass as I collected our clothes. Luckily Velvet had pictures of a lot of people, and they all wore clothes, so she was able to make me a pair of hard light pants, which were shockingly comfy. We held hands as we walked back to the bullhead, Velvet humming a happy tune and skipping ahead. Honestly last night had been…intense. I felt most of what she had during the night, and I wasn't going to pretend my feeling hadn't gotten a bit mixed up in the sex. Not that it was unusual for that to happen with white court, but usually a prolonged feeding like that would kill the prey, no ones control was that good.

I could feel her happiness like a bright ball of sunshine in the back of my mind, which was odd and slightly alarming, but I couldn't bring myself to be upset. I was in too good a mood. Sure, Velvet was happy and it was spilling over but so what, being happy was good. I was looking forward to doing this again, at least after a day or two so she could recover. Another benefit to sleeping with huntresses, they recovered much faster than normal girls.

We sat down on the Bullhead in the same seats. This time there was a few people there but we didn't mind, Velvet sat curled against my side. I noticed her checking her scroll, her ears dropping a bit as she read it. "Hey, whats up? Everything ok?" Her happiness was still there, but dimmer, and I could feel guilt and worry in the background.

She gave me a brief smile "Yeah nothing huge, Coco is just mad, I didn't check in last night because we were" she blushed bright red "busy, and 'Sorry Coco, I didn't think to check my scroll because I had my brains literally fucked out' doesn't seem like a good choice of explanation. Sadly the best sec I've ever had is not an excuse for making them worry. Even if it seems like it to me."

I gave her a teasing grin "Best sex you've ever had huh? I didn't know I'd made such a deep impression." She raised an eyebrow and gave me a naughty smirk and a wicked chuckle I could feel myself getting excited again but pushed it down, I doubted Velvet was even capable of having more sex right now, let alone interested.

She noticed my interest and her eyes widened "I don't think there are any deeper parts for you to press on, and dear gods, are you actually eyeing me up right now? Good lord boy, I feel like an empty tube of toothpaste, how are you ever remotely ready to go again." I gave her a devilish grin and looked around to make sure no one was watching, before pulling up her dress and giving her ass a light slap.

She blushed and her mouth dropped open "What can I say, you bring it out of me. Sorry about that by the way, I believe I was promised twenty four seven ass slapping rights. Or was that just pillow talk." Her blush intensified and she gave me a heated look, despite her earlier comment about having no more interest.

She looked around and bit her lip again before turning in her seat and raising her dress. "It's yours, whenever you want it. Give me one more, to tide me over for the day?" I felt my pulse race, but pushed down the excitement, I knew she wasn't trying to start anything, she was just really into the discipline thing. I gave her a hard open palmed slap on that sweet, legendary ass, and pulled her dress down to cover the handprint before anyone else could look over. She gave me a hooded look, falling into my lap as the Bullhead jerked to a stop "Well, I better get to my room, class is in an hour and I cant show up covered in sweat and cum. Thanks for the all nighter, stud. Lets do it again soon." With that she planted a kiss on me and bounced to her feet, flouncing off away from the Bullhead.

I grinned stupidly to myself and headed for my own room. I wanted to wash up before I saw my cousins. Velvet wasn't the only one who reeked of particularly vigorous sex. But I found myself humming Velvets tune from earlier as I walked, having daydreams of a beautiful brown haired girl with bunny rabbit ears.

 **Ok folks, there was that first sex scene a few people asked about, not sure how good it was but its out of the way. This isn't a porn fic though, these chapters aren't going to be the norm, not to say there wont be a few more, but most of the chapters are going to be the normal ones. Let me know what you thought, and thanks for reading.**


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